North Korea pulled huge $600 million crypto heist, feds say

The US Department of the Treasury was able to track down the culprit of the Axie Infinity theft. A North Korean hacker group called Lazarus is believed to be behind the $600 million theft.

The group that was involved in the theft was added to the U.S. international sanctions list.

THREAD: Updates to OFAC’s SDN designation for Lazarus Group confirm that the North Korean cybercriminal group was behind the March hack of Ronin Bridge, in which over $600 million worth of ETH and USDC was stolen.

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) April 14, 2022

The attack took place in March of this year and it targeted Axie Infinity, a game that uses cryptocurrencies. Although the game is based on the internet, it uses a different technology. The players can perform all the transactions without paying the fees of the standard ethereum block.

The two chains are connected. Unfortunately, an exploit in the bridge between Ethereum and Ronin resulted in a massive theft. The Lazarus Group conducted a hack that resulted in the theft of 25.5 millionUSDC. A stable coin is one that is pegged to the U.S. dollar. At the time of the theft, the two currencies pooled together to the tune of $600 million.

Initially, it was not clear if the update referred to the Axie Infinity robbery. According to the Department of the Treasury, the new entry refers to the hack conducted by Lazarus. The FBI discovered the wallet that collected the stolen funds as part of their investigation of North Korea.

This isn't the first time we've heard about Lazarus, they are a state-sponsored group of hackers. The group stole at least $400 million of digital assets. The group managed to steal over $600 million in one go, so this means that the hack is a huge increase.

The funds obtained through these attacks are used to fund North Korea's weapon programs. According to Elliptic, the country has already laundered 18% of the $600 million that Lazarus was able to obtain.

An anonymous FBI representative told PC Gamer that the cyber actors associated with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are responsible for the theft of $620 million. The FBI will continue to expose and combat the use of illegal activities by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to generate revenue for the regime.

This is a huge hit for Axie Infinity, a game that relies on helping users profit rather than just having fun. Sky Mavis said that additional security measures are being added to the bridge. The bridge will be secure enough to prevent it from being breached.

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