North Korea, Iran Linked to Surge in Blockchain Malware Activity

North Korea, Iran Linked to Surge in Blockchain Malware Activity

Malware instructions hidden on public blockchains rose 420% in a year, Chainalysis says, with North Korea and Iran-linked hackers behind most new activity.

North Korea and Iran drive 5.2x jump in malware hidden on public blockchains

Chainalysis specifically named hackers with North Korean and Iranian ties for most of the 420% surge it spotted in the number of instances where attackers wrote malware instructions or infrastructure data on public blockchains over the past year.  The Thursday report published by the Blockchain analytics firm set off alarms at exchanges, wallet providers, and...

State Hackers Write Most Blockchain Malware as AI Fuels It

Blockchain malware, the instructions hackers hide inside public-blockchain transactions, rose about 440% in under a year, and state-linked groups from North Korea and Iran now account for most of it, according to a Chainalysis report published Thursday and first detailed by Bloomberg. Daily malicious on-chain writes climbed from about two to eleven over the period, a jump Chainalysis ties to the mid-2025 arrival of powerful Chinese open-source A…

Chinese AI Models Fuel 440% Surge in Blockchain Malware Commands

The use of public blockchains to host malware instructions has risen sharply following the emergence of unrestricted open-source artificial intelligence models, according to a recent report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Chainalysis found that malicious instructions written to blockchains increased by about 440% in less than a year, with the number of daily harmful on-chain […]