North Korea, Russia, China, and Iran Lead Global Cyber Warfare Attacks: Those Countries are The Source of Many of the World’s Problems

  

     A Microsoft Copilot AI search for ‘cyber warfare data’ reveals the following summary:

“Cyber warfare in 2026 is marked by record attack volumes, multi‑billion‑dollar economic impacts, and heightened state‑sponsored activity targeting governments, critical infrastructure, and industries.”

     The following graph from Statista shows countries involved in Cyber attacks.

     Unfortunately, rogue totalitarian North Korea has been making a killing in crypto-heists, with the latest hack of Binance estimated at a shocking $6 billion. This is one reason, among several, I have never liked cryptocurrencies. Most of North Korea’s hacking is directed at the United States. They have made billions from crypto hacks and are using them to fund their sinister regime. North Korean crypto theft is shown in the Statista graph below. After that is a chart showing cyberattacks against the U.S. by type of target.

     In fact, the four biggest hacking countries are Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. Those four countries are the origin of many of our global problems. Ukraine and the U.S. do cyber attacks as well, but most of these are retaliatory, and in the case of Ukraine, necessary to counteract Russian cyber warfare. The Statista data note that about half of cyber attacks remain unattributed. I noticed Pakistan in the list but not India. I think India has a higher percentage in the unattributed category. Iran focuses most of its cyber attacks on other Middle Eastern countries, followed by the U.S.

     Of those four countries, which are in many ways criminal regimes, three have nuclear weapons, and the fourth seeks them. Human rights are very poor in all four of those countries. Three of them are warmongers. China has, thankfully, shown restraint. All four have pursued military buildups. They are all adversaries. Although I like to think of China more as a competitor, they can be quite adversarial. Defcon Level compares these bad actors' cyber warfare capabilities below. 

     What is most shocking in the data below from Cyber Warfare Tracker is that the cost of these cybercrimes would reach $8 trillion by 2023.

     Cryptopolitan reported yesterday that the ~$6.3 billion hack of crypto company Binance moved all 233.46 million stolen XRP to 6 new wallets on Monday. That massive-scale hack has been attributed to North Korea. They should pay for that criminal theft. They likely won’t. The bad actors of the world sometimes succeed, but I believe they will ultimately fail. According to Cryptopolitan:

“Cryptopolitan reported that the industry has frozen around $3 billion of the stolen assets. The FBI blames TraderTraitor, the name it gives to a state-linked North Korean hacking operation, saying the attackers are turning stolen crypto into Ether.”

“However, North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong denied the FBI’s accusation, calling it “an absurd rhetoric and nothing new,” in an official statement released November 2.”

“Binance said company funds have compensated about 95% of the amount affected. The exchange also said it has full backing for its XRP balances.”

     Recent hacks that shut down freezers in Europe, resulting in the loss of perishable food of significant value, have been attributed to Russia, which has been probing EU defenses with drones, setting bombs at munitions factories in Europe and even threatening to assassinate European arms company CEOs. Recent hacks of freezers at U.S. military bases have been suggested to have originated from Iran, but I don’t think the origin has been established.

     In addition to being investigated by law enforcement entities, all of these cybercrimes need to be discussed at the UN, values tabulated, and some kind of hearings held. They will deny, but there are ways of knowing, some of which may best be kept secret.

 

References:

 

Kash Patel dealt humiliating blow as ‘major’ hack threatens to spread beyond his FBI. David Edwards. Raw Story. November 3, 2026. Kash Patel dealt humiliating blow as ‘major’ hack threatens to spread beyond his FBI

Cyber Warfare Statistics: Cybercrime costs are soaring, with breaches averaging millions and ransomware hitting more organizations than ever. World Metrics, Report 2026. Cyber Warfare Statistics | 2026 Edition

Cyber Warfare Tracker: State-Sponsored Attacks & Global Threats. Last Updated: July 19, 2026. Defcon Level. Cyber Warfare Tracker 2026: State-Sponsored Attacks & Threats | Defcon Level

Binance hacker spreads 233.46 million stolen XRP over six wallets Ripple has no power to freeze. Randa Moses. Cryptopolitan. November 3, 2026. Binance hacker spreads 233.46 million stolen XRP over six wallets Ripple has no power to freeze

European Freezers Keep Being Attacked By Hackers. Experts Believe Russia Is Behind: Cyberattacks affecting supermarket refrigeration systems across Europe have raised concerns about Russian state-sponsored hackers exploiting outdated remote-control technology in connected appliances. Brian SlupskiBrian Slupski. IBT. November 4, 2026. European Freezers Keep Being Attacked By Hackers. Experts Believe Russia Is Behind. | IBTimes