Hackers Armed With AI Stoke Fears for $130 Billion Crypto Sector

The crypto hacks came a little over two weeks apart in April, netting the attackers almost $600 million in total while triggering an investor exodus from one major platform and causing another to fail.

But for all the damage the two exploits wrought, what most alarmed cybersecurity experts was how the hackers pulled them off. The attackers — widely believed to be North Korea-linked groups — appear to have used artificial intelligence to select targets and design exploits, according to blockchain forensics firm TRM Labs.

The heists displayed such a leap in sophistication that it’s highly likely the hackers worked ...