US file a lawsuit to recover funds from a hack by North Korea

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

According to this court document: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/press-release/file/1310411/download, US government has file this lawsuit to lay claims on the 280 BTC and ETH which are holding the funds for the North Korean hack stolen from two crypto exchange. It didn't name the exchanges in the document, but it mentioned a dates on the said hacks;

1. July 1, 2019



2. September 25, 2019



Deposit:



US said that the hackers used the technique of 'chain hopping".

This tactic of moving between different types of virtual currency, often referred to as “chain hopping,” is frequently used by individuals who are laundering the proceeds of virtual currency thefts. Chain hopping seeks to accomplish several objectives. First, it helps obfuscate the trail of the stolen virtual currency because the path jumps from the blockchain of one virtual currency to another virtual currency. Second, the BTC ecosystem is much larger, with more virtual currency exchanges and traders willing to accept BTC versus other virtual currencies. Therefore, it is generally easier to transact in BTC and hide among the crowd.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/press-release/file/1310411/download

And the US government want to get everything back and take control of these account. The number of addresses is 280 that they want to be forteited and have control.

[audaciousbeing]

If the US government is filing this in the court, I have every reason to believe they already have a way to gain control of these funds because it just does not make any sense to go through this stress and still be bothered about how to ensure control. From the look of it, they only need the legal backing to ensure their actions are not declared ultra vires and its a good one because its shows an organisation willing to follow due process. The narration of North Korea is just to further establish the hostility between the nations and not that they are expecting compliance from that part of the world.

[Mbitr]

Nice post OP. I did go through the document and it seems like the US authorities are really starting to understand blockchain tech !
Another interesting point is that no BTC was actually ‘stolen’ only Altcoins  

[Jating]

Nice post OP. I did go through the document and it seems like the US authorities are really starting to understand blockchain tech !
Another interesting point is that no BTC was actually ‘stolen’ only Altcoins  

But they have to move their altcoins to BTC hence the amount to be forfeited is in BTC.

If the US government is filing this in the court, I have every reason to believe they already have a way to gain control of these funds because it just does not make any sense to go through this stress and still be bothered about how to ensure control. From the look of it, they only need the legal backing to ensure their actions are not declared ultra vires and its a good one because its shows an organisation willing to follow due process. The narration of North Korea is just to further establish the hostility between the nations and not that they are expecting compliance from that part of the world.

I think US DOJ just wanted to make everything and perfectly legal that's why they have to file this into court and they don't want to make it that they are confiscating this without legal basis. And they just want to prove how dangerous North Korean sponsored hackings and trying to target their South Korean crypto exchanges on the other side. And it's good if these stolen funds can be reimbursement to the rightful owners.

[Slow death]

I would have been more comfortable if they had said that the hacker received an exemplary punishment, something like having had more than 30 years in prison, it's needed to apply heavy penalties to discourage this type of crime and another thing: I never heard that they caught the scammers from hyip sites , it seems that creating a hyip/ponzi site is a light crime that should not attract government attention.

Nice post OP. I did go through the document and it seems like the US authorities are really starting to understand blockchain tech !

and is there anything they don't understand? they have hundreds of human resources and materials in their favor, they know everything

[bitsurfer2014]

Unfortunately, even if the evidences against those perpetrators are strong and solid, I think there is a little chance they would recover those funds and North Korea's government would always deny any participation of it.

Now, the only thing the U.S. Government could do is to step up its economic sanctions to discourage them but I bet they wouldn't budge from such threat.

[tomahawk9]

OP posted links from the Justice .gov website that are downloadable files, so in case someone doesn't like that, here's the press release from the Justice Department about the hacks and the 280 addresses: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-files-complaint-forfeit-280-cryptocurrency-accounts-tied-hacks-two-exchanges

if you took the time to read the Attachment file in the link above (a pdf file at the bottom) , you'll notice that they mention "mining activity from North Korean actors" but they don't mention the cryptocurrency. Geez, i wonder if North Korea mining more Monero ^[1] has anything to do with this "mining activity"  

1. https://decrypt.co/18954/north-korea-is-mining-way-more-monero-than-last-year

[dothebeats]

I don't think North Korea will ever be returning anything to the US no matter how many lawsuits they file against the state. They would just deny and deny all these allegations while continuing what they're doing. Knowing how NoKor treated most of the cases and sanctions against them, they'd just shrug it off and tell the world that they are being bullied by the US, with their ally China backing them up and just making things hard for everyone else.

if you took the time to read the Attachment file in the link above (a pdf file at the bottom) , you'll notice that they mention "mining activity from North Korean actors" but they don't mention the cryptocurrency. Geez, i wonder if North Korea mining more Monero ^[1] has anything to do with this "mining activity" 

1. https://decrypt.co/18954/north-korea-is-mining-way-more-monero-than-last-year

I actually like that the US is being vague and cryptic about their wordings on which cryptocurrency are they talking about. Perhaps to not disrupt the market activity of the cryptocurrency in question but North Korea is still painting all the red flags and signs everywhere, so yeah.

[kamadazje]

I wonder if where this lawsuit will go because the chances that they can get this funds again is very low even if they filed a lawsuit because North is a very brave country
that even US can't silence it.

It will be good also if they also state the exchanges that are involved to this hack because this will not happen if those exchanges have the best counter measure to hackers knowing that they are holding the funds of their customers.

[akram143]

Even if they file a lawsuit there is no possibility of recovering the hacked funds, because it is in North Korea.But atleast these things are now getting the attention from government which may become a reason for more regulations in crypto currencies on several countries.

[Sanugarid]

Unfortunately, even if the evidences against those perpetrators are strong and solid, I think there is a little chance they would recover those funds and North Korea's government would always deny any participation of it.

We know how North Korea play games with America, I'm sure America will get nothing from North Korea even a penny for this, besides North Korea isn't that fool to have any link to the hacker if their hacker is really the perpetrator. To be honest, it seems to me that America is really entering any hole they can see just to start a war because of their collapsing country. It is just a little quick thought of mine, don't look at it too much.

Now, the only thing the U.S. Government could do is to step up its economic sanctions to discourage them but I bet they wouldn't budge from such threat.

North Korea will just deny all of these allegations, just like what they did from all of the hacking incidents that they were involved and mention. And as far as I know there are no solid proof that will lead to NK government for this hacking incident.

[Baofeng]

Even if they file a lawsuit there is no possibility of recovering the hacked funds, because it is in North Korea.But atleast these things are now getting the attention from government which may become a reason for more regulations in crypto currencies on several countries.

If you read the documents, it didn't mentioned that the hacked funds are in North Korean hands, in fact, they

(1) identified a US email based
(2) when cyber threat actors tries to convert the stolen funds (a transaction ID beginning with 6918d31f), the exchange didn't proceed, perhaps the coins has been trailed and on the blacklist of exchange already
(3) they move to other exchange, but since it is blacklisted already, been flagged so no cash out happened.

Which means that the funds are sitting to those exchange right now and the US authorities did file this lawsuit to claim those and give it back to the right owners. And you have to understand that this case is not against North Korean hackers directly, but "in rem" - meaning lawsuit on the property itself, in this case the stolen cryptocurrency.

@tomahawk9 - yes, even the exchange are not being mentioned, but as crypto enthusiast, and who have been following North Korean modus, I'm sure that it is indeed Monero here being used for crypto jacking.

[Anna138]

If the US government is filing this in the court, I have every reason to believe they already have a way to gain control of these funds because it just does not make any sense to go through this stress and still be bothered about how to ensure control. From the look of it, they only need the legal backing to ensure their actions are not declared ultra vires and its a good one because its shows an organisation willing to follow due process. The narration of North Korea is just to further establish the hostility between the nations and not that they are expecting compliance from that part of the world.

It seems to me more and more that the conflict between the US and North Korea is very inflated in the media and has no solid ground. It does not go beyond the statements of Prime Ministers and presidents, and as for weapons, the United States has a huge advantage here, and this is obvious to everyone. So the control of funds can be a joint solution that is beneficial for both sides.

[bbc.reporter]

In another press release related to this issue, it was mentioned that a Chinese cryptocurrency money laundering ring was involved. After reading this I remembered litecoin hehe. This coin has low development, has a small community, however it has always been having very high volume in Chinese exchanges? This is very suspicious.



“Today’s action publicly exposes the ongoing connections between North Korea’s cyber-hacking program and a Chinese cryptocurrency money laundering network,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division

Source https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-files-complaint-forfeit-280-cryptocurrency-accounts-tied-hacks-two-exchanges

[TravelMug]

If the US government is filing this in the court, I have every reason to believe they already have a way to gain control of these funds because it just does not make any sense to go through this stress and still be bothered about how to ensure control. From the look of it, they only need the legal backing to ensure their actions are not declared ultra vires and its a good one because its shows an organisation willing to follow due process. The narration of North Korea is just to further establish the hostility between the nations and not that they are expecting compliance from that part of the world.

It seems to me more and more that the conflict between the US and North Korea is very inflated in the media and has no solid ground. It does not go beyond the statements of Prime Ministers and presidents, and as for weapons, the United States has a huge advantage here, and this is obvious to everyone. So the control of funds can be a joint solution that is beneficial for both sides.

How can there be a joint resolution on this when obviously, North Korea and the US are not in speaking terms and North Korean disavowing this so called Lazarus group. Yes, this could be a state back up hacking group but we have to think as how North Korea, with no power become so good at hacking in the last 10 years and has been targeting their enemies  infrastructure, financial institutions.

That they also evolved into stealing crypto to circumvent the trade embargo against them. I think the simply answer is that North Korea has some help outside.

[davis196]

If the US government is filing this in the court, I have every reason to believe they already have a way to gain control of these funds because it just does not make any sense to go through this stress and still be bothered about how to ensure control. From the look of it, they only need the legal backing to ensure their actions are not declared ultra vires and its a good one because its shows an organisation willing to follow due process. The narration of North Korea is just to further establish the hostility between the nations and not that they are expecting compliance from that part of the world.

Such court cases will take years before the final verdict and I don't believe that the funds will be recovered.
The US government has enough resources and clerks in order to "go through this stress" and investigate such complex theft.The main goal of this case isn't recovery of funds.The main goal is to stop the hackers that are backed by North Korea from stealing more coins out of South Korean crypto exhcanges.
I don't believe that the US government has suddenly become crypto friendly.This case is more about politics and international affairs,rather than cryptocurrency related stuff.

[GeorgeJohn]

Nice post OP. I did go through the document and it seems like the US authorities are really starting to understand blockchain tech !
Another interesting point is that no BTC was actually ‘stolen’ only Altcoins  

He did not specify it that is only alt coin that was hacked, but according to op bitcoin was among of  the stolen coins,because is only the dates are noted as evidence.

[int03h]

The lawsuit is meaningless because both countries do not have the same opinion about cryptocurrencies and North Korea will certainly deny that their country has a group of hackers who stole them from the US. This lawsuit only makes the political problems between these two countries worse only. 280BTC is equivalent to 3 million dollars. I don't think it's worth them suing North Korea.

[Mbitr]

Nice post OP. I did go through the document and it seems like the US authorities are really starting to understand blockchain tech !
Another interesting point is that no BTC was actually ‘stolen’ only Altcoins  

He did not specify it that is only alt coin that was hacked, but according to op bitcoin was among of  the stolen coins,because is only the dates are noted as evidence.

Really not sure what point you are trying to make with this post ?
No the OP didn’t specify that only Altcoins were hacked
Bitcoins were not stolen as such , the Altcoins were exchanged into BTC
The rest of your sentence I just don’t understand .
May I suggest that you read the document to fully understand what happened !

[tomahawk9]

I actually like that the US is being vague and cryptic about their wordings on which cryptocurrency are they talking about. Perhaps to not disrupt the market activity of the cryptocurrency in question but North Korea is still painting all the red flags and signs everywhere, so yeah.

It's possible, but I also think they're being vague cuz they don't wanna give free publicity to a cryptocurrency that they've had their eyes on ^[1] for quite a while now...US govt is not very fond of privacy coins, hell, even exchanges have problems listing Monero because Uncle Sam doesn't like it ^[2] (sames as the russians ^[3])

thing is being vague works for people outside of the cryptosphere, most of us involved in this little world [who are more likely to read these kind of crypto news] can quickly figure out what they're talking about (: 

1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/shehanchandrasekera/2020/07/06/irs-is-trying-to-deanonymize-privacy-coins-like-monero-and-zcash
2. https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-ceo-exchange-wont-list-xmr-due-to-issue-with-regulators
3. https://cointelegraph.com/news/russias-new-crypto-analytics-system-to-track-dash-and-monero

[cryptoperkele]

I wouldn't hold my breath that North Korea would comply with U.S demands. If by some miracle those weren't stolen by NK gov officials, imho they will be at least confiscated by them now. Is there a similar case in history where NK was supposed to return stolen goods to u.s?

[Mpamaegbu]

Nice post OP. I did go through the document and it seems like the US authorities are really starting to understand blockchain tech !
Another interesting point is that no BTC was actually ‘stolen’ only Altcoins  

The involvement of the US in a matter it kicked against early on is where it gets interesting for me. Whether it succeeds with it or not (for North Korea is a pain among nations of the world) is immaterial to me. I just like searchlight encouraging the growth and mass adoption of cryptocurrency to always beam. It's a good one.

(2) when cyber threat actors tries to convert the stolen funds (a transaction ID beginning with 6918d31f), the exchange didn't proceed, perhaps the coins has been trailed and on the blacklist of exchange already
(3) they move to other exchange, but since it is blacklisted already, been flagged so no cash out happened.

That's fantastic too that the funds can't be moved out by hackers. So, it shows that cryptos can be marked and traced too. I have mixed feelings on this, anyway. But it's great that the hackers are prevented from causing harm.

[hv_]

Bitcoin is very transparent by design, never use it for crime.

Crime free is a feature

Segwit, ln, schnorr, coinjoin undermines that

[avikz]

Lol! While I strongly condemn any such kind of hacking act, but still can't laugh enough if US thinks North Korea will comply to a US court's regulation. The dictator leader of North Korea didn't even let his Uncle live peacefully and US thinks North Korean hackers will be brought to justice through a mare court regulation!

Bitcoin is very transparent by design, never use it for crime.

Crime free is a feature

Segwit, ln, schnorr, coinjoin undermines that

Another big round of Lol! Bitcoin is a new weapon of the scammers from around the world. They are using bitcoin's privacy feature to milk out money from the legal businesses. After the bitcoin boom, a new term was coined called "Ransomware". Did you ever wonder, what makes such attacks possible? It's bitcoin (or Monero nowadays)! They come to fuck you wide open ass and you now have to even make payment for fucking you!

[Reatim]

According to this court document: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/press-release/file/1310411/download, US government has file this lawsuit to lay claims on the 280 BTC and ETH which are holding the funds for the North Korean hack stolen from two crypto exchange. It didn't name the exchanges in the document, but it mentioned a dates on the said hacks;

1. July 1, 2019



2. September 25, 2019



Deposit:



US said that the hackers used the technique of 'chain hopping".

This tactic of moving between different types of virtual currency, often referred to as “chain hopping,” is frequently used by individuals who are laundering the proceeds of virtual currency thefts. Chain hopping seeks to accomplish several objectives. First, it helps obfuscate the trail of the stolen virtual currency because the path jumps from the blockchain of one virtual currency to another virtual currency. Second, the BTC ecosystem is much larger, with more virtual currency exchanges and traders willing to accept BTC versus other virtual currencies. Therefore, it is generally easier to transact in BTC and hide among the crowd.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/press-release/file/1310411/download

And the US government want to get everything back and take control of these account. The number of addresses is 280 that they want to be forteited and have control.

I'm Not sure if north Korea will Comply in this but at least US is consistent in their claim because if this will be allowed and tolerated then Many North
 korean Hacker or connected to the hacker that will Hide in this country and just Live like nothing happens.
actually US wants to Prove here that they can Do everything just to impose the Law.

Bitcoin is very transparent by design, never use it for crime.

Crime free is a feature

Segwit, ln, schnorr, coinjoin undermines that

This is what we wanted as we are a Fair and legit people but Let the Scammers and Hackers learn that Hope they will listen to You lol.

I wouldn't hold my breath that North Korea would comply with U.S demands. If by some miracle those weren't stolen by NK gov officials, imho they will be at least confiscated by them now. Is there a similar case in history where NK was supposed to return stolen goods to u.s?

Well Maybe this time it is a different approach because NR seems to be Getting along with US these past ?
well Not sure if the News really says the truth behind it all.

[bbc.reporter]

Bitcoin is very transparent by design, never use it for crime.

Agreed. The report also showed that the cryptocoins used for chain hopping were Algorand, Ethereum and Bitcoin. Why? Clearly the coin to use should be Monero. The hackers would be laughing while exchanging them to Bitcoin or fiat.

I am skeptical about the report.

[slaman29]

Bitcoin is very transparent by design, never use it for crime.

Agreed. The report also showed that the cryptocoins used for chain hopping were Algorand, Ethereum and Bitcoin. Why? Clearly the coin to use should be Monero. The hackers would be laughing while exchanging them to Bitcoin or fiat.

I am skeptical about the report.

Proven again and again by criminals who actually do still use Bitcoin. They either get caught, or their funds are frozen or exchanges, or simply blacklisted and monitored forever. The minute they move it, people see it. Love Bitcoin for that!

[bbc.reporter]

@slaman29. Also, if the hackers used Monero, the department of justice might not report it because there would certainly be nothing to report. It would be a free advertisment for Monero if they include it hehehehe.

[Jating]

@slaman29. Also, if the hackers used Monero, the department of justice might not report it because there would certainly be nothing to report. It would be a free advertisment for Monero if they include it hehehehe.

And Monero is not viable for hackers or criminals though, as some top exchanges are delisting it as far as I know since 2018 because of government pressures. So criminals still will love to used bitcoin, mix it up and think that they are not going to get caught by blockchain analysis.

Monero are just being used as second tier coins for criminals, like crypto jacking or crypto mining.

[nancy]

And how they are going to return it from North Korea?

[Anna138]

Bitcoin is very transparent by design, never use it for crime.

Agreed. The report also showed that the cryptocoins used for chain hopping were Algorand, Ethereum and Bitcoin. Why? Clearly the coin to use should be Monero. The hackers would be laughing while exchanging them to Bitcoin or fiat.

I am skeptical about the report.

It is obvious that this person understands what he is talking about. This report has nothing to do with reality. Hackers would never take such a stupid step. What for? Similar situations have already happened in America and Japan in 2019 (read Google). Everyone has long understood how this works and to think differently in my opinion is just stupid in 2020.

[Yatsan]

I don't think North Korea will ever be returning anything to the US no matter how many lawsuits they file against the state. They would just deny and deny all these allegations while continuing what they're doing. Knowing how NoKor treated most of the cases and sanctions against them, they'd just shrug it off and tell the world that they are being bullied by the US, with their ally China backing them up and just making things hard for everyone else.

Indeed. That would certainly be the thing to happen. Even if the US will keep on pursuing to file lawsuits against the North Korea for the allegations of hacking, the state of North Korea will just keep on denying such allegations and just continue on their doings for they won't take any affection on the claims of US just like what they are usually doing on other cases being thrown against them. US will just be tired on doing filings of lawsuits for North Korea will not comply on whatever the other state is urging them to do so.

Even if they file a lawsuit there is no possibility of recovering the hacked funds, because it is in North Korea.But atleast these things are now getting the attention from government which may become a reason for more regulations in crypto currencies on several countries.

That would probably be the case. They would just be tired on filing lawsuits but still will not get anything in return for hacked funds will be no longer be recovered or would have a very small possibility to get recovered for they are facing against North Korea.

[bbc.reporter]

@slaman29. Also, if the hackers used Monero, the department of justice might not report it because there would certainly be nothing to report. It would be a free advertisment for Monero if they include it hehehehe.

And Monero is not viable for hackers or criminals though, as some top exchanges are delisting it as far as I know since 2018 because of government pressures. So criminals still will love to used bitcoin, mix it up and think that they are not going to get caught by blockchain analysis.

Monero are just being used as second tier coins for criminals, like crypto jacking or crypto mining.

Monero has one of the highest volumes on Bisq and many popular exchanges also have it, however.

Also, why would real hackers act ignorant and risk being caught by using a coin where the government can see all your transactions and by using a centralized exchange where your coins can be taken from you?

I am skeptical of this news.

[bbc.reporter]

@Jating. To add on the argument why it is safer for hackers to use Monero , even everyone in general also, is because complete privacy of transactions maintains the coin's neutrality as a currency.

Also, this news. The IRS does not know what to do except offer a bug bounty to find weaknesses on Monero. However, this helps the project. They might not know this hehehe.



The US Internal Revenue Services (IRS) will pay out up to $625,000 for anyone who cracks the untraceable cryptocurrency Monero, and other privacy coins, according to an official proposal published last week.

“IRS-CI is seeking a solution with one or more contractors to provide innovative solutions for tracing and attribution of privacy coins, such as expert tools, data, source code, algorithms, and software development services,” said the proposal.

Source https://decrypt.co/41411/the-irs-is-offering-you-625000-to-crack-monero