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FBI confirmed the involvement of the Lazarus Group of North Korea and apt38 in hacking into the $100 million peace horizon last year.
The exploit of protocols was rampant in 2022, with cross-chain bridge hacks causing the most damage. Multiple chain bridge hacks accounted for 50 per cent of the hacks last year. Ronin Bridge, Poly Network, and Bridge were prominent targets from which hackers exploited more than $500 million each.
Inter-chain bridges facilitate transactions between the various blockchain chains without requiring a centralised authority.
In June 2022, pirates exploited $100 million from the Harmony Horizon Bridge, the gateway from Harmony to other blockchain networks. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed on Monday through a press release that North Korea’s Lazarus Group and APT38 were behind the hack.
Lazarus Group has stolen a hundred million dollars. From Horizon Bridge
Investigations by the FBI, working with the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, and others, confirmed that Lazarus Group and APT38 were responsible for the $100 million hack. Lazarus and apt38 are cyber crime groups related to the North Korean government.
The hackers used the privacy protocol Railgun to sneak out over $60 million worth of Ethereum on Jan.13. The on-chain sleuth, ZachXBT, caught this activity and reported it on Jan. 16. North Korean exploiters deposited funds on three separate stock exchanges, using 350 addresses.
However, BINANCE and huobi worked together to halt the flow of stolen funds and recovered more than 124 btc.
We're proud to announce that thanks to our dedicated team and collaboration with @binance, we were able to detect and prevent a Harmony One hacker from attempting to launder funds through @HuobiGlobal
— H.E. Justin Sun????????????? (@justinsuntron) January 16, 2023
FBI has also listed some wallets that are currently being used to park the stolen crypto in the form of
FBI also linked Lazarus Group and APT38 to the $615 million Ronin Bridge hack last year. This is one of the greatest crypto achievements of all time.
Is North Korea using cryptography to fund WMD?
North Korean pirates have been involved in multiple theft of cryptocurrencies. Hackers linked to the nation reportedly stole more than a billion dollars' worth of crypto assets over the past five years. Most recently, in Dec. 2022, North Korean hackers stole over 1,000 NFTs and 300 ETH
According to the FBI press release, North Korea funds ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction programs through cryptocurrency thefts. Allegedly, the ex-Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith is helping the North Korean government with its malicious activities
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