A Good Year for North Korean Cybercriminals

North Korean state-sponsored cybercriminal groups (notably Lazarus and clusters identified by Google/Chainalysis) executed highly sophisticated, persistent campaigns in 2025 that resulted in billions stolen in cryptocurrency (including a reported $1.5B ByBit Ethereum theft), leveraged supply-chain compromises, fake tech-worker personas, and AI-enhanced social engineering, and relied on complex money-laundering networks and regional services to evade tracing—indicating escalating scale, capability, and potential state-aligned cooperation.