Why North Korea Is Winning Crypto Crime and How to Fight Back | Ari Redbord, TRM Labs

What you'll learn

• 1 Why North Korea Is Winning Crypto Crime and How to Fight Back | Ari Redbord, TRM Labs
• 2 (00:00) **North Korea: State Actors, Not State-Sponsored** - Ari Redbord rejects the term "state-sponsored" for North Korea's hacking; these are direct state actors with no economy who have professionalized cybercrime
• 3 (02:23) **The Drift Hack: $285 Million Drained in 12 Minutes** - North Korea's Lazarus group stole $285M from Drift protocol on April 1st, representing 76% of all 2026 hack value from just two targets
• 4 (07:37) **Social Engineering to Technical Breach** - The social engineering phase directly enabled the technical attack on Drift's validator system
• 5 (11:55) **The North Korean Hacker Ecosystem** - A lay of the land for Lazarus Group, Bureau 121, and other subgroups operating under the North Korean government
• 6 (16:15) **$6 Billion Stolen: What Happens Next** - North Korea has stolen approximately $6 billion over five years, and they need to launder it fast to fund weapons research and the regime
• 7 (21:58) **National Security's View on Crypto** - The US national security community wants to stop North Korea, not shut down DeFi or crypto entirely

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