Cryptocurrency security threatened by North Korean hackers and wallet software vulnerabilities

Recent cybersecurity incidents have highlighted vulnerabilities in the ecosystems surrounding cryptocurrency hardware wallets. South Korean firm D’CENT is investigating unauthorized transfers involving its software-based App Wallet. While the company has not confirmed a compromise of its hardware products, the investigation suggests that users who manually imported recovery phrases into the mobile app may have exposed their assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP.

In a separate but related trend of targeting digital assets, Japanese authorities and the FBI reported that North Korea-linked hackers, known as WaterPlum, infected over 30,000 devices across 100 countries. Between December 2025 and July 2026, the group targeted IT professionals and developers using fake job offers from impersonated AI and crypto companies. These attackers used malicious coding tasks to distribute various malware families, successfully stealing data from approximately 7,000 crypto wallets.

Additionally, the firm Trezor disclosed that attackers breached a third-party marketing provider, Brevo, resulting in the export of 347,149 customer email contacts, though the company stated its hardware wallet security remained intact.