North Korean hackers steal record $1.5 billion in single crypto hack, security firm says

North Korean hackers have stolen $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency in a single heist, making it the largest crypto hack on record, security experts told CNN.

North Korean hackers have stolen $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency in a single heist, making it the largest crypto hack on record, security experts told CNN. The hack hit Bybit, which describes itself as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, with over 40 million users. In a matter of minutes on Friday, the hackers stole a significant portion of North Korea’s reported annual gross domestic product. And over the weekend, the hackers were already laundering about $160 million of the stolen loot through a series of accounts connected to North Korean operatives, according to crypto-tracing firm TRM Labs. In a single hack, the North Koreans have nearly doubled what they stole in crypto last year, the firm said. It’s an early test for how the Trump administration will address the steep challenge of trying to prevent North Korea from funding its nuclear and missile programs through hacking. “We’ve never seen anything on this scale before. The ability of these illicit financial networks to absorb such huge amounts of money so quickly is deeply concerning,” said Nick Carlsen, a former FBI intelligence analyst focused on North Korea who now works at TRM Labs. North Korea’s formidable hacking corps is an essential source of revenue for the nuclear-armed, sanctions-battered dictatorship, according to current and former US and South Korean officials.