In June 2022, hackers stole $100 million from the Harmony Horizon Bridge, the gateway between Harmony and other blockchains. The FBI confirmed in a press release on Monday that North Korea's Lazarus Group and APT38 were behind the hack.
An investigation by the FBI in collaboration with the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and other agencies confirmed that the Lazarus Group and APT38 were responsible for the $100 million hack. Lazarus Group and APT38 are cybercriminal groups linked to the North Korean government.
On January 13, hackers used the privacy protocol Railgun to steal more than $60 million worth of Ethereum. On-chain sleuth ZachXBT spotted the activity and reported it on Jan. 16. North Korean exploiters used more than 350 addresses to deposit funds into three different exchanges. However, Binance and Huobi collaborated to stop the flow of the stolen funds and recover more than 124 BTC.
The FBI also listed a number of wallets currently being used to store the stolen cryptocurrency in the form of bitcoin.
The FBI also linked the Lazarus Group and APT38 to last year's $615 million Ronin Bridge hack. This is one of the largest encryption breaches of all time. North Korean hackers have been involved in multiple cryptocurrency thefts. State-linked hackers have reportedly stolen more than $1 billion worth of crypto assets over the past five years. Most recently, in December 2022, North Korean hackers stole over 1,000 NFTs and 300 ETH.
According to an FBI press release, North Korea funds its ballistic missile and WMD programs through theft of cryptocurrencies. Former Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith is allegedly helping the North Korean government with its malicious activities.
