North Korean hackers are becoming a more significant and dangerous threat to the cryptocurrency industry. They are changing how they do business and making their operations bigger. Demystifying the North Korean Threat Paradigm’s newest study says that these state-sponsored hackers are using more advanced attacks and working with more than one group. North Korea’s cyberwarfare is becoming a bigger problem. It includes everything from simple social engineering attacks to complicated supply chain hijackings. The hackers are responsible for a massive loss of money. The UN estimates they stole $3 billion between 2017 and 2023, which will hugely increase in 2024 and 2025.
Massive Attacks by Multiple Groups
According to Paradigm, at least five North Korean groups are involved in hacking: The Lazarus Group, Spinout, AppleJeus, Dangerous Password, and TraitorTrader. North Korean agents have also gotten into global tech companies by pretending to be IT workers, which has helped them reach even more people. These hackers are very smart, and they sometimes plan strikes a year in advance to make themselves more powerful.
Recently, big cryptocurrency exchanges have been the target of high-profile hacks. In 2024, North Korean hackers broke into Bybit and stole $1.7 billion. In 2025, they broke into WazirX and Bybit again and stole $1.5 billion.
Lazarus Group
Lazarus outfit is the best-known North Korean hacker outfit. This organization carried out the 2017 WannaCry 2.0 ransomware outbreak, the 2016 Sony breach, and the 2017 Bangladesh Bank heist.
Lazarus Group also targets cryptocurrency. This gang broke into Youbit and Bithumb in 2017 and stole millions of dollars in 2022 using the Ronin Bridge.
Predictable but Effective Money Laundering
Even though international law enforcement is paying more attention, North Korean hackers still use well-known methods to hide stolen money. Once they have their haul, they divide the stolen money into smaller amounts and move them to different wallets. Then, they trade assets that are hard to sell for ones that are easier to sell. Often, they turn stolen money into Bitcoin (BTC).
Conclusion
North Korea’s cyberattacks are getting brighter and more prominent, a big problem for the cryptocurrency industry. Even though countries and cybersecurity companies try to stop them; these hacker groups keep changing, improving their methods and growing their power.
