Lazarus, a hacker group supported from North Korea, is believed to be responsible for 65% of hacked cryptocurrency from the beginning of the year 2017. An investigation conducted by Cybercrime Company Group-IB revealed the fact in an annual report titled “Hi-Tech Crime Trends”.

The report, dedicated to hackings observed in 2017 and 2018, identified the said, state-sponsored hacker group, Lazarus, as responsible for $571 million of the $882 million total in crypto that was stolen from online exchanges during the studied time period. This is equivalent to almost 65% of the total sum. 

As indicated by the report, extensive phishing bunches are equipped for taking $1 million per month.

Unethical Hacking Leading to the Major Loss

Fraudsters are building phoney sites using the stolen digital money, venture portrayals and counterfeited white papers. As indicated by the report, extensive phishing bunches are equipped for taking $1 million per month.

Group-IB is expecting the attack on cryptocurrency to rise, and not merely by one group Lazarus. The US stated that North Korea is using hackers to infiltrate imposed sanctions to steal the cryptocurrency and use it in other affairs, most likely for nuclear use.

Targets for the hacking efforts, mostly seem to be clients of the Coin link digital currency trade, different trades in South Korea, and a gathering called Friends of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or, in other words of understudies.

One strategy includes endeavouring to get the messages and passwords of clients of Coin link.

“Spear phishing remains the major vector of attack on corporate networks. For instance, fraudsters deliver malware under the cover of CV spam [with an attachment] that has a malware embedded in the document,” the Hardfork findings showed.