South Korea "North Korea Lazarus Hacked Upbit at 2019"

"Lazarus·Andariel Took 342,000 ETHs From Upbit"
Money laundering and Sent them to North Korea

According to an investigation, the main culprit of the takeover of Ethereum(ETH) worth 58 billion won in 2019 at Upbit, a cryptocurrency exchange, is the North Korean hacker group.

According to domestic media reports, South Korea Police investigated the 2019 Upbit hacking incident and announced on Nov. 21 that the main culprits behind the hacking were 'Lazarus' and 'Andariel', hacker groups under the North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau.

South Korea Police investigated the case in which 342,000 Ethereum were stolen from Upbit in November 2019 with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) and concluded that IP addresses, cryptocurrency flows, and vocabulary found during the investigation were North Korean hackers.

This is the first time that a North Korean-related group has officially been found to have cyberattacked a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange.

According to the report, the North Korean hacker group has turned the cryptocurrency stolen through three cryptocurrency exchange sites, which it is believed to have created on its own, into Bitcoin(BTC) at a price about 57% cheaper than the average market price. The remaining 43% were distributed to 51 overseas exchanges in 13 countries, including China, the U.S., and Hong Kong, and then laundered.

It is difficult to figure out how much of the seized cryptocurrency has flowed into North Korea.

A police official said, "Tracking was cut off during the Bitcoin tracking process," and added, "It becomes difficult to find it when it flows through money laundering, and although we have tried many things, it has become difficult to track anymore."

권승원 기자 ksw@blockstreet.co.kr