North Korean hackers targeting gamers in ‘biggest ever’ £470m crypto heist

North Korea-backed hackers are thought to be behind a huge cryptocurrency heist which saw $615m (£470m) stolen from players of a popular Pokemon-style game, Axie Infinity.

The FBI believes the heist was pulled off by a hacker group called ‘Lazarus’, which is thought to be an arm of North Korea’s secret intelligence service.

The game sees players buy NFTs of animated monsters and use them for battle, which generates a cryptocurrency that can be exchanged for real money.

The hack, which was one of the biggest in the history of cryptocurrency, saw cybercriminals make off with $615m of Ethereum, the second most popular crypto after Bitcoin.

The FBI said in a statement on Thursday: “Through our investigations we were able to confirm Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with [North Korea], are responsible for the theft.

The Lazarus Group has previously been accused of hacking into Sony Pictures to try and prevent the release of The Interview, a comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen which saw the pair plot to assassinate Kim Jong-un.

The crypto wallet where the funds were sent has been placed under US sanctions in an attempt to stop the money from moving.

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What is an NFT?

First appearing in 2014, a non-fungible token is a bit of unique non-interchangeable data that represents something in the real world.

They can be bought and sold using cryptocurrencies and are a good way to buy the original copy of digital artwork due to their unique ‘identifying codes’.

An NFT is built to prevent the endless replication of things online.

When it comes to games like Axie Infinity, NFTs give players a means of earning money by playing a game.

Players buy an NFT of a digital pet, then increase its value by winning in-game battles. They can sell their valuable pets to make real-world money.

It is proving so popular that, in the Philippines, the game has reportedly become a full-time job for some players.

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