A North Korean hacking group has been identified in the theft of DMM Bitcoin assets

A North Korea-linked hacking group stole digital assets worth 48.2 billion yen ($307 million) from Tokyo-based DMM Bitcoin Co. in May, Japanese police said on Tuesday.

The hacker group was identified by police as TraderTraitor after an investigation conducted in cooperation with the US Department of Defense and the FBI.

DMM Bitcoin said earlier this month that it would go out of business after suspending some of its services following the discovery of the unauthorized leak of funds on May 31.

This photo illustration shows a visual representation of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. (Getty/Kyodo)

Police traced the flow of stolen bitcoins to an account run by the group, which was suspected to be linked to the Lazarus hacking group allegedly sponsored by the North Korean government.

The investigation found that an employee of a company that manages DMM Bitcoin cryptocurrency accounts was contacted via the LinkedIn social network by someone claiming to be a headhunter.

The perpetrator then hacked the wallet management system by implanting malware and forged transaction amounts as well as transfer destinations, police said.

In September, Japan’s Financial Services Agency ordered the exchange to improve operations, saying its risk management structure was inadequate.

None of the clients suffered financial damage as the exchange received 55 billion yen from a collective company to cover the lost assets.

They said in a statement that police, the FBI, other US government and international partners “will continue to expose and combat North Korea’s use of illicit activities,” including cybercrime and cryptocurrency theft, to generate revenue for the regime.

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