North Korean Hackers Steal $308M in Crypto from Japanese Firm DMM
On May 20, 2024, a massive crypto-heist valued at 308 million US dollars struck the Japanese company DMM. The FBI, along with Japanese and US authorities, have attributed this cyber-attack to a North Korean hacker group known as TraderTraitor.
The hack began in late March when TraderTraitor contacted an employee at Ginco, a Japanese enterprise cryptocurrency wallet software company. They sent a malicious Python script, disguised as a pre-employment test, which compromised the employee's system. By mid-May, the hackers exploited session cookie information to impersonate the employee and access Ginco's unencrypted communications system. On May 20, they manipulated a legitimate transaction request by a DMM employee, resulting in the loss of 4,502.9 Bitcoin worth $308m. The stolen funds were swiftly moved to TraderTraitor-controlled wallets. This incident was part of a larger trend in 2024, with North Korea-affiliated hackers stealing $1.34bn worth of cryptocurrency across 47 incidents, representing 61% of the total amount stolen throughout the year.
The crypto-heist on DMM highlights the growing threat of state-sponsored cybercrime. North Korea continues to generate revenue through cryptocurrency thefts, with TraderTraitor being one of their most active groups. Authorities worldwide are working together to combat these sophisticated attacks and bring the perpetrators to justice.
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