North Korea Arrests Hacking Group for Infiltrating Central Bank, Stealing Funds via Crypto on July 12

According to Daily NK, North Korean authorities arrested a hacking group linked to the country's reconnaissance agency on July 12 for infiltrating the central bank and foreign trade bank networks and stealing state trade funds. The group, led by a veteran from the spy agency's cyber warfare unit, recruited IT graduates from elite universities and used encrypted communications to conduct operations.

The stolen funds were split into small amounts and transferred to overseas crypto wallets, then converted to cash by intermediaries and exchanged for U.S. dollars across border regions. Authorities discovered irregular foreign currency payment approvals and overseas IP access logs, leading to raids on safe houses where they arrested suspects conducting money laundering and seized equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.