FBI on Thursday announced that it successfully seized more than $1.2 billion from cryptocurrency giant Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, that was allegedly stolen last month.
The heist is allegedly the biggest in cryptocurrency history, stealing approximately $6.3 billion. The FBI previously blamed the cyberattack for being the work of a hacking group called TraderTraitor believed to be North Korean government sponsored.
US government agencies and private sector organisations have so far frozen more than $2.7 billion of the stolen funds. The Justice Department says it’s gained a court order to take and delay over $1.2 billion of it.
The United States government generally makes an application for forfeiture in front of a judge in these cases, through which the judge decides who was the rightful owner and how to be disposed of the assets recovered.
In another social engineering attempt, the FBI alleges North Korea stole $400 million since the beginning of 2019.
The scheme is called FaceStealer, and it is said to be extremely elaborate, featuring a series of malware attacks such as hijacking popular messaging platforms and the creation of deepfake videos.
North Korea frequently has been accused by US officials of conducting state-sponsored cyber operations to raise funds for the North’s prohibited program of weapons development and for the North’s generally activities.
The Presidency’s latest attack is an important step for the government of the United States and other private companies to track, freeze and retrieve cryptocurrency that has been stolen via big cyber operations.