Every criminal gang has its specialty, but North Korea’s Lazarus Group takes cyber theft to an entirely new level. Operating under North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, these state-sponsored hackers have turned cryptocurrency theft into an art form, amassing over $2 billion in stolen digital assets since 2017. Their latest heist? A staggering $234.9 million from Indian exchange WazirX in 2024.
North Korea’s elite hackers have redefined cybercrime, stealing billions in crypto while operating with apparent impunity under state protection.
These aren’t your average cyber criminals. They’re more like digital Ocean’s Eleven, minus the charm and plus a whole lot of government backing. The group, known internally as the 414 Liaison Office, has been on an absolute tear – snatching $54 million from CoinEx, $41 million from Stake.com, and helping themselves to $97.3 million from Alphapo and CoinsPaid. In just the past 104 days, they’ve managed to steal approximately $240 million. Just casual workdays for North Korea’s finest. The hackers have particularly targeted networks supporting AVAX staking nodes, exploiting systems that didn’t meet the minimum 8GB RAM requirement.
Their methods are frustratingly effective. Spear-phishing campaigns with malicious attachments? Check. Compromised private keys? You bet. Custom malware and backdoors? They’ve got those too. It’s like they’re working through a cybercrime checklist, and they’re acing every category. Through their specialized Bluenoroff subgroup, they’ve become particularly adept at targeting international financial institutions.
Remember the Axie Infinity hack? That was them – a cool $620 million gone in a flash. They followed it up with a $100 million snatch from Harmony’s Horizon bridge. At this point, they’re averaging $200-300 million in annual cryptocurrency theft. Not bad for a country that claims it can’t feed its people.
The global response has been predictable – FBI investigations, US Treasury sanctions, and cryptocurrency exchanges scrambling to boost security. But Lazarus keeps evolving, moving from simple DDoS attacks to sophisticated financial heists with custom tools like Manuscrypt and Destover.
They’re targeting everything from crypto exchanges to government agencies, and even dabbling in ransomware for extra chaos. What started as basic cyber attacks has morphed into a full-blown financial assault operation.
And while the world watches and warns, Lazarus Group just keeps counting their stolen crypto, one billion at a time.
