U.S. moves to recover $2.6 million in crypto stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
According to a court document, the United States government filed a lawsuit on Monday against the Lazarus Group, a collective of hackers from North Korea, in an attempt to retrieve $2.6 million in cryptocurrency that had been pilfered.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, outlines the government’s efforts to reclaim funds linked to cyberattacks orchestrated by the state-sponsored group.
U.S. Files Complaint to Recover Crypto Stolen by Lazarus Group
The lawsuit requests $1.7 million in Tether (USDT) in relation to the Derbit hack that occurred in November 2022 and resulted in the withdrawal of $28 million from the Panamanian exchange.
Federal authorities are also attempting to retrieve $971,000 in Avalanche-bridged Bitcoin that was taken in the September 2023 hack of a digital casino by the Lazarus Group, which resulted in the loss of $41 million from the online sportsbook.
With its string of cyberattacks against the digital asset industry, the hacking group Lazarus Group has been instrumental in financing North Korea’s military aspirations. This legal action is the latest attempt by the U.S. government to sabotage their operations.
Tornado Cash was designated as a “key money laundering tool” for the hacking collective by the U.S. Treasury in November, as part of its ongoing efforts to curb the Lazarus Group’s cyber activities.
“Mixing services that enable criminal actors, such as the Lazarus Group, to launder stolen assets will face serious consequences,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo stated at the time.
FBI Warns of Lazarus Group’s Threat to Crypto Security
A report from a United Nations panel of experts published in March highlighted that up to 40% of the funds stolen by North Korean hackers are funneled into the country’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program.
The Lazarus Group’s growing emphasis on the cryptocurrency industry has increased the risks associated with their cyber operations, which directly endanger international security.
The Lazarus Group’s tactics are a threat to the blockchain industry, as the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) warned in an alert released in September.
“North Korean social engineering schemes are complex and elaborate, often compromising victims with sophisticated technical acumen,” the FBI alert stated.
They further explained,“Given the scale and persistence of this malicious activity, even those well versed in cybersecurity practices can be vulnerable to North Korea’s determination to compromise networks connected to cryptocurrency assets.”