North Korean hackers stole a record $1.7bn of crypto last year
source link: https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/02/22/north-korean-hackers-stole-a-record-17bn-of-crypto-last-year
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North Korean hackers stole a record $1.7bn of crypto last year
Investigators are getting better at cracking the hackers
Few forms of celebration are as close to literally burning money as fireworks and missile tests. And for North Korea, a great fan of both, the more it burns the better. It launched more than 95 cruise and ballistic missiles in 2022, a new record. And it loves above all to splurge on the biggest, showiest rockets, like the intercontinental ballistic missile it fired eastwards into the sea on February 18th.
Despite being unable to feed its people, North Korea has found innovative ways to fund its missiles programme, including by forging foreign currency, committing insurance fraud and making and selling arms and narcotics. A more novel revenue stream is stolen cryptocurrency. Last year its hackers pinched a record $1.7bn of the stuff, according to a report published this month by Chainalysis, a data firm based in New York.
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