North Korea’s record year of crypto theft lays bare a ‘modern-day pirate state’
Embrace of AI and cooperation with Chinese networks have turned DPRK threat groups into financial juggernaut for regime
North Korea’s cryptocurrency thieves started 2025 with a heist for the history books, stealing $1.46 billion in one swoop to kick-start another year in service to the regime.
The record-breaking heist epitomized North Korea’s evolving approach to virtual crime: months of patient reconnaissance, sophisticated social engineering tactics and rapid laundering through a complex web of sanctioned tools and Chinese underground networks.
In the months that followed, North Korean actors — from elite cybercrime actors like the Lazarus Group to fraudulent IT workers — fanned out across…
