When you hear about North Korea crypto theft, state-sponsored cyber operations targeting cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets to fund national programs. Also known as crypto ransomware campaigns, these attacks aren’t random—they’re precise, well-funded, and often linked to a single group: the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking collective tied to the country’s military intelligence agency. This isn’t just about stealing coins. It’s about bypassing sanctions, funding weapons programs, and exploiting the open, borderless nature of blockchain.
The Lazarus Group doesn’t break in through brute force. They use social engineering, fake job postings, and phishing to get inside exchanges and DeFi protocols. Once inside, they move fast—draining wallets, laundering funds through mixers like Tornado Cash, and converting crypto into cash via overseas exchanges. Between 2017 and 2024, they stole over $3 billion, according to Chainalysis and the U.S. Treasury. That’s more than most small countries make in annual crypto tax revenue. What makes this worse is that many of these hacks happen on platforms that claim to be "secure"—but lack real-time monitoring, multi-sig controls, or employee training. The victims aren’t just small projects. Major exchanges like Ronin Network and Poly Network have lost hundreds of millions in single attacks.
It’s not just about the money. These thefts force the entire crypto ecosystem to rethink security. Hardware wallets like Ledger and Trezor became more popular not because they’re fancy, but because they’re the last line of defense when exchanges get hacked. Regulations like MiCA in Europe and AUSTRAC in Australia are pushing for stricter KYC and transaction tracking—not to kill privacy, but to make it harder for stolen funds to disappear. Even blockchain analytics firms now track suspicious wallet clusters linked to known North Korean addresses. The goal isn’t to stop every single hack—it’s to slow them down, trace them, and make the cost of stealing too high.
What you’ll find below isn’t a list of every stolen wallet or every hacked exchange. It’s a collection of real-world guides, reviews, and breakdowns that help you understand how these attacks work, what tools are used to stop them, and how to protect yourself—even if you’re not a trader. From crypto mixers and sanctions to security tokens and exchange reviews, each article connects to the bigger picture: in a world where nation-states target digital assets, knowing how to stay safe isn’t optional. It’s survival.
North Korea has stolen over $3 billion in cryptocurrency since 2017 using state-backed cyberattacks to fund its weapons programs. Learn how they do it, who's behind it, and why it's still getting worse.
