North Korean hackers have stolen over $2 billion in cryptocurrency this year, primarily by targeting wealthy individuals, according to researchers. This record sum represents approximately 13% of North Korea's estimated GDP and is used to fund its weapons programs.

• The thefts mark a record year for North Korean regime-linked hackers, with cumulative stolen cryptoassets now exceeding $6 billion.
• Researchers at Elliptic warn that crypto-wealthy individuals are increasingly attractive targets due to their often weaker security compared to businesses.
• The largest single hack attributed to North Korea this year was $1.4 billion from crypto exchange ByBit in February.