(Adnkronos) – North Korea has stolen billions of dollars by breaching cryptocurrency platforms and creating fictitious identities to obtain remote jobs at foreign technology companies. This is revealed by an international report, according to which the activities, orchestrated by Pyongyang officials, would serve to finance the research and development of nuclear weapons, circumventing international sanctions.
The document, drafted by the “Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team” – a group composed of the United States, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and other allies – describes a sophisticated hacking system, comparable to that of China and Russia. In addition to stealing funds, North Korean cybercriminals reportedly used cryptocurrencies for money laundering and military purchases. Investigators link the regime’s operations – partly supported by Moscow and Beijing – to “destruction of computer equipment, loss of private assets, and financing of illegal weapons of mass destruction programs.”
Among the most concerning incidents is the theft of $1.5 billion in Ethereum from the Bybit platform, attributed by the FBI to hackers linked to North Korean intelligence services. Thousands of IT workers, according to US authorities, also reportedly obtained remote jobs under false identities, transferring their earnings directly to the Pyongyang government.
