US government links North Korea to $620 million cryptocurrency heist

The U.S. this week linked a cybercrime group with ties to the North Korean government to a cryptocurrency heist of more than $620 million last month.

The Treasury Department added the notorious Lazarus Group to its sanctions list Thursday and identified a series of prohibited transactions it was tied to. 

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The FBI said it was working with the Treasury Department to expose North Korea's "illicit activities" along with its ties to cybercriminal gangs like the Lazarus Group.

The U.S. Treasury did not directly tie the cybercrime group to the heist but instead listed a "digital currency address" that is affiliated with "Ronin Bridge Exploiter" when announcing its sanctions, first reported PC Gamer. 

The group reportedly hacked the video game Axie Infinity by infiltrating the Ronin "blockchain" – which is a network that facilitates the transfer of cryptocurrency in and out of the game. 

Sky Mavis, which runs both Axie Infinity and Ronin, first announced the hack in late March when it said funds had been "drained from the Ronin bridge in two transactions."

The hackers ended up taking roughly $620 million.

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But the Lazarus Group wasn’t linked to the multimillion-dollar heist until Thursday when the FBI and Treasury Department updated its sanctions list and cited the Ronin digital currency address used in the March hack. 

"Identification of the wallet will make clear to other [virtual crime] actors, that by transacting with it, they risk exposure to U.S. sanctions," the department said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "This demonstrates Treasury’s commitment to use all available authorities to disrupt malicious cyber actors and block ill-gotten criminal proceeds."

This is not the first time the Lazarus Group is believed to have been involved in a major breach. 

The group was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2019 for its alleged involvement in the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, and claimed it was under the control of North Korea’s primary intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB).

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Additionally, a 2019 United Nations report found that North Korea had stolen a whopping $2 billion for its weapons of mass destruction programs by relying on "widespread and increasingly sophisticated" cyberattack schemes.

Sky Mavis has so far been able to raise $150 million to help those affected by the March hack, it announced last week.