North Korean hackers stole $400 million using rigged AI video calls, FBI says

Hackers linked to North Korea stole more than $400 million using fake video calls using artificial intelligence (AI), the US FBI said on Thursday, November 12. The American federal police in November accused hackers affiliated with Pyongyang of hacking $6 billion to the detriment of the Binance cryptocurrency platform, accusations that North Korea rejects.

“The North Korean regime has used profits from large-scale cryptocurrency theft to finance its illegal weapons programs, stealing billions of dollars in recent years,” said FBI Cyber ​​Branch Director Brett Leatherman. According to the American agency, in addition to the Binance attack, North Korean hackers “aggressively” targeted individuals through “deceptive social engineering tactics.”

Theft of more than $400 million in the last 18 months

These actions, described by the FBI as “FaceStealer,” led to the theft of more than $400 million over the past 18 months. The hackers pose as someone known to the victim, and lure them into a “deepfake” video exchange rigged using AI. Pretending a technical problem, they trick their victim into clicking on a link, which installs pirate software on their device, which will exploit all available data.

“FaceStealer is a highly effective social engineering scheme capable of fooling even the most technically experienced and security-conscious computer users,” said Patrick Grandy, deputy director of the FBI's Los Angeles office.