NEW YORK, March 4 -- Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are targets of choice for online criminals, who often exploit weaknesses in major trading platforms or individual users' digital "wallets" to make major scores.

A recent US$1.5-billion heist of Ethereum from the Bybit platform - attributed by the FBI to North Korean hackers - is believed to be the largest yet in an ever-longer litany of thefts.

How common is crypto theft?

Cryptocurrencies are based on blockchain technology, which publicly records transactions between people holding and exchanging them.

That has not kept a lid on theft, with an estimated US$2.2 billion worth of the assets stolen in 2024, according to a report from specialist data firm Chainalysis.

It was ...