North Korean Lazarus Group suspected of major crypto heist
Lazarus, the best-known North Korean state-sponsored hacking group, is suspected of draining 45 billion won ($30 million) worth of cryptocurrency from South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit, on Thursday.
According to Yonhap News, South Korean authorities are still conducting an on-site investigation of the heist, but sources in government and industry say Lazarus was behind the incident.
The group is also suspected of stealing around $40 million worth of ETH from Upbit in 2019. Authorities stated that the methods employed in the latest breach were similar to those used in the 2019 theft.
As per Yonhap’s report, Upbit revealed the exploit just hours after an announcement that Naver, the South Korean tech giant, was buying Dunamu, Upbit’s parent company.
Hackers could have intentionally chosen this particular day for the attack. Unsurprisingly, Naver shares fell as much as 2.8% on Friday.
Experts also told Yonhap that the hacking incident occurred while Pyongyang was seeking to raise money amid a shortage of foreign currency.
“It is the tactic of Lazarus to transfer crypto to wallets at other exchanges and attempt money laundering,” a security official said, explaining that such methods make it impossible to track the transaction.
Lazarus Group is associated with the North Korean government’s Reconnaissance General Bureau. Its operations contribute to the country’s not-so-secretive development of nuclear weapons.
Earlier this year, Lazarus famously laundered more than $1 billion worth of ETH and its derivatives stolen from the Bybit crypto exchange. This particular heist was the largest-ever crypto hack.
According to a 2022 report by cybersecurity company NCC Group, Lazarus consists of different teams of varying quality, with top teams exhibiting highly skilled operational capabilities.
In recent years, Lazarus has shifted its focus to cryptocurrency, which offers an ideal method for stealing funds and transferring them anonymously via decentralized networks.
Since 2017, North Korean hackers are estimated to have stolen over $6 billion in crypto assets, with around half of that amount attributed to Lazarus.
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