N. Korean Hacker Group Stole Assets from DMM Bitcoin: NPA

Tokyo, Dec. 24 (Jiji Press)--Japan's National Police Agency said Tuesday that a North Korean hacker group was responsible for the theft of cryptocurrency worth some 48.2 billion yen from Japanese cryptocurrency exchange operator DMM Bitcoin Co.

The group is called TraderTraitor, which is part of Lazarus Group, a subordinate organization of the North Korean army's Reconnaissance General Bureau, according to the NPA.

The NPA conducted the investigation jointly with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and other organizations under a framework called "public attribution" aimed at deterring cyberattacks by revealing groups or state agencies behind such attacks.

TraderTraitor has been operating since April 2022 at the latest. No domestic damage caused by the group had been confirmed until DMM Bitcoin's case.

In late March this year, TraderTraitor contacted an employee of Ginco, a Tokyo-based company to whom DMM Bitcoin had entrusted its wallet system management by posing as a headhunting recruiter on social media.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]