Overview
- North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, which issued a statement Sunday via state media, rejected U.S. claims of a DPRK cyber threat as fabricated and warned it would take measures to defend its interests online.
- TRM Labs reported that actors tied to North Korea stole about $577 million in cryptocurrency through April 2026, which it said made up roughly 76% of global hack losses this year.
- Analysts said two April mega-heists drove the totals, citing a reported $292 million breach of KelpDAO and about $285 million stolen from Drift Protocol, both decentralized finance platforms that move funds through automated code.
- In March, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned six people and two entities linked to North Korean IT‑worker schemes, and in April the Justice Department said two Americans were sentenced for placing DPRK workers inside U.S. companies, including Fortune 500 firms and a defense contractor.
- Pyongyang accused Washington of politicizing cyber issues, while prior UN reporting in 2024 estimated North Korea-linked cyber thefts since 2017 at over $3 billion and researchers have long tied the Lazarus Group to major hacks such as the Sony breach and the Bangladesh bank heist.