South Korea's National Intelligence Service: North Korea stole millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency last year

South Korean officials believe North Korean hackers stole tens of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency last year, according to local media reports.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS), the lawmaker for cyberattacks, said phishing attacks and other methods have cost cryptocurrency users tens of billions of won. South Korean authorities are investigating whether the same hackers were involved in last month’s Coincheck attack, which resulted in the theft of $500 million worth of cryptocurrency.

Last year, a cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, Bithumb, was attacked, 8 billion won was stolen, and the personal information of 30,000 users was leaked.

South Korean lawmaker Byung-kee further pointed out the impact of phishing emails on users:

North Korea sent emails that were able to hack into cryptocurrency exchanges, gain access to users’ private information, and steal billions of won worth of cryptocurrency.

The mysterious North Korea has been repeatedly accused of involvement in exchange attacks and frauds, and the country's hackers have also tried to steal cryptocurrencies from trading sites, but ultimately failed. Last year, South Korean police said that North Korean attackers attempted to deceive 25 employees of four exchanges through phishing attacks, but fortunately they did not fall for it.

The theft of cryptocurrency by North Korea was first reported by cybersecurity firm FireEye and later confirmed by government officials.

The country appears to see cryptocurrencies as a way to circumvent United Nations economic sanctions, especially those imposed severely following its nuclear weapons tests.