North Korea’s Lazarus Group Makes off Over $540 Million From Online Crypto Game Axie Infinity.
The United States Treasury Department recently announced that the North Korean cyber group Lazarus Group, which goes by Hidden Cobra, stealthily made off with $540 million in one of the biggest crypto heists. The target was Axie Infinity, a popular online crypto game.
The group used an Ethereum wallet tied to an address that was previously to steal other digital assets. The US Office of Foreign Asset Control’s (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List imposed sanctions and restricted any further potentially transferred funds.
The official government announcement states that “the FBI, in coordination with Treasury and other US government partners, will continue to expose and combat the DPRK’s use of illicit activities — including cybercrime and cryptocurrency theft — to generate revenue for the regime.”
This incident was the second-largest recorded heist cyber theft as of March 23, 2022, with over 173,600 Ether (ETH) and 25.5 million USD Coins in the loot that was siphoned off. This successful theft mainly occurred because the cyberattack was done using fake withdrawals and private keys.
In the first three months of 2022 alone, over $1.3 billion was taken by malicious groups. In 2021, over $3.2 billion crypto tokens were hauled off, indicating that crypto heists are becoming more and more lucrative.
Hungry for more? Join me each week, where I’ll break down complex topics and dissect the latest news within the cybersecurity industry and blockchain ecosystem, simplifying the tech world.
#simplifyingtheworldoftech #worldoftech #tech #remotework #cybersecurity
