Nazia Saeed
North Korea’s escalating cyberattacks and cryptocurrency thefts could become a formal topic of discussion at next month’s G7 summit in Alberta, Canada, according to a May 7 Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the agenda.
While the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza are expected to dominate the summit, North Korea’s aggressive cyber operations are increasingly viewed as a global threat requiring coordinated action. The report highlights growing alarm over the regime’s use of stolen crypto to fund its operations and weapons programs, evading international sanctions.
North Korean-affiliated groups—most notably the Lazarus Group—have already stolen billions in 2024 alone. This includes a record-breaking $1.4 billion hack on crypto exchange Bybit in February, marking the largest theft in the industry’s history. Overall, 47 crypto-related heists tied to North Korea have amounted to over $1.3 billion this year, per blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
In January, the U.S., Japan, and South Korea issued a joint warning about North Korean IT workers infiltrating crypto firms as insider threats. The U.S. Treasury noted that these illicit activities directly support Pyongyang’s weapons programs.
Recent attempts include setting up shell companies to spread malware and even a failed infiltration of crypto exchange Kraken—uncovered through a fake hiring test run by the company’s CSO, Nick Percoco.
