Examining North Korea’s Cybercrime Economy

It is estimated that one third to a half of North Korea’s budget comes from cyberfraud and extortion. Finextra reports that most of these crimes are aimed at the financial services industry, including banks, crypto exchanges, and payments providers.

Cybercrime is one of the most serious, underdiscussed issues of our age. The money siphoned out of financial systems each year by bad actors is a value twice the size of Germany’s GDP, according to Cybersecurity Ventures: around $10 trillion in 2025, and If an economy, it would be the third largest in the world.

North Korea has a turbulent history, and its isolated economy — and several weapons programmes — are propped up by the spoils of cyberattacks. Through years of practice, the rogue state has become exquisitely advanced in digital warfare — funding highly organised rings of hackers to siphon money from large, multi-national companies, high-net worth earners, financial institutions (FIs), governments, and even vulnerable individuals.

For years, its economy has been contracting — labouring under resource shortages, outdated infrastructure, and energy problems. In 2024, however, this picture began to shift and North Korea’s economy grew by around 4 percent its fastest in eight years.

One of North Korea’s long-term, most reliable incomes, is delivered by cybercrime — i.e., any illegal activity involving computers, the internet, or network devices. In North Korea’s case, the state sponsors activities like identity theft, phishing scams, and numerous other digital attacks, which siphon money from the financial systems of its adversaries.

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