Washington:The U.S. Justice Department has announced that it has secured court approval to seize or restrain over $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency allegedly stolen by North Korean hackers from the crypto exchange Binance last month.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the $1.2 billion is part of more than $2.7 billion in assets frozen by U.S. authorities and private-sector partners. This action follows the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified the hackers as a group called TraderTraitor, who are reportedly laundering the stolen assets through various cryptocurrency bridges, mixers, and exchanges.
M. Scott Proctor, principal deputy assistant attorney general for national security, stated that the North Korean government funds its regime and illicit weapons program through such cryptocurrency thefts. He emphasized that the U.S. is committed to combating these cybercriminal activities.
The FBI, in coordination with the U.S. Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service, has issued a cyber alert attributing the Binance theft to North Korean actors. The alert urges virtual asset service providers to block transactions involving or derived from cryptocurrency addresses tied to the stolen funds.
In a related development, the department disclosed the disruption of a North Korean hacking campaign known as FaceStealer, which involved the use of deepfake videos and fraudulent online meetings to steal over $400 million in cryptocurrency in the past 18 months. The FBI has seized cloud-based infrastructure used in this campaign and obtained more than 900 webcam videos of victims. The hackers have also targeted developers and maintainers of open-source software, likely to facilitate broader software supply-chain attacks.