2023年经济学人 朝鲜黑客窃取17亿美元加密货币(1)（在线收听）

    North Korean hackers stole a record $1.7bn of crypto last year朝鲜黑客去年窃取了17亿美元加密货币，创下纪录Few forms of celebration are as close to literally burning money as fireworks and missile tests.

    很少有什么庆祝形式能像烟花和导弹试验那样接近于真的烧钱。

    And for North Korea, a great fan of both, the more it burns the better.

    对于两者都热衷的朝鲜来说，越烧钱越好。

    It launched more than 95 cruise and ballistic missiles in 2022, a new record.

    2022年，朝鲜发射了超过95枚巡航导弹和弹道导弹，创下新纪录。

    And it loves above all to splurge on the biggest, showiest rockets, like the intercontinental ballistic missile it fired eastwards into the sea on February 18th.

    朝鲜最喜欢把钱挥霍在最大最炫的火箭上，就像它在2月18日向东面的海里发射的洲际弹道导弹。

    Despite being unable to feed its people, North Korea has found innovative ways to fund its missiles programme, including by forging foreign currency, committing insurance fraud and making and selling arms and narcotics.

    尽管无法养活人民，朝鲜还是找到了创新的方式来资助其导弹计划，包括伪造外汇、实施保险欺诈，以及制造销售武器和毒品。

    A more novel revenue stream is stolen cryptocurrency.

    一个更新颖的收入来源是被盗的加密货币。

    Last year its hackers pinched a record $1.7bn of the stuff, according to a report published this month by Chainalysis, a data firm based in New York.

    总部位于纽约的数据公司“据数字”本月发布的一份报告显示，去年朝鲜黑客窃取了创纪录的17亿美元。

    Some of North Korea’s hacking thefts were eye-wateringly big.

    朝鲜的一些黑客盗窃案规模大得令人咂舌。

    Last March it ripped off a cross-chain bridge, a method for moving cryptocurrency from one coin’s blockchain to another, associated with the game Axie Infinity.

    去年3月，它窃取了一个跨链桥，这是一种将加密货币从一个硬币的区块链转移到另一个硬币的方法，与游戏《阿蟹》有关。

    At the time it was discovered, the stolen currency was worth more than $600m, making it the second-biggest crypto-theft ever.

    在被发现时，被盗的货币价值超过6亿美元，成为有史以来第二大加密盗窃案。

    But as with all heists, the robbery is just the first step.

    但和所有盗窃一样，这只是第一步。

    To launder their loot North Korean hackers employ all sorts of tricks, including splitting up the money, moving it between different crypto-wallets, converting it into different coins and putting it through mixers—large digital pools where crypto owners can deposit funds to obscure their origins.

    为了洗钱，朝鲜黑客使用了各种各样的技巧，包括分割资金，在不同的加密钱包之间转移，将其转换为不同的硬币，并将其放入大型数字池，加密所有者可以在其中存入资金，以掩盖其来源。

    Some of the stolen crypto was put to direct use.

    一些被盗的加密货币被直接使用。

    In 2022 two South Koreans, including an army captain, were arrested on suspicion of selling secrets to the North in return for bitcoin.

    2022年，包括一名陆军上尉在内的两名韩国人因涉嫌向朝鲜出售机密以换取比特币而被捕。

    But North Korean hackers mostly try to turn the loot into hard cash, either through a broker or more commonly through a centralised exchange.

    但朝鲜黑客大多试图通过经纪人或更常见的集中式交易所将赃物转换成现金。

    The fiat currency obtained is then used to purchase items through established procurement channels, run through front companies and North Korea’s embassies abroad.

    然后，通过挂名公司和朝鲜驻外大使馆的既定采购渠道，将获得的法定货币用于购买物品。