The Lazarus Group, a renowned North Korean hacker collective, is said to have hacked the cryptocurrency system Harmony. The criminal gang has recently been involved in a lot of heists similar to this one.
According to Elliptic Enterprises, which records digital assets that have been stolen and was quoted by Bloomberg, the exploit was probably carried out by the Lazarus Group (a cybercrime entity backed by the North Korean state). The corporation claims that the laundering techniques were remarkably similar to hacker-previously-used techniques:
Based on the nature of the breach and the subsequent laundering of the stolen cash, “there are strong indicators that North Korea’s Lazarus Group may be involved for this heist.”
Elliptic also went into great detail about how the theft was carried out. In order to compromise the security of the protocol, The Lazarus Group targeted the usernames and passwords of Harmony personnel in the Asia Pacific area.
Once in charge, the thieves used automated laundering services to shift the stolen property at night.
Additionally, Elliptic said that the hacker group has already sent more than 40% of the $100 million to a Tornado Cash mixer.
According to a new study by Coincub, North Korea is by far the worst country for cryptocurrency crime. Skilled hackers from the authoritarian nation have stolen more than $1.5 billion in digital assets between 2017 and 2022 by targeting governments and commercial enterprises throughout the world.
The UN also charged North Korea with stealing millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrencies earlier this year, alleging that the Asian nation used the funds to finance missile and nuclear tests.
The North Korean government conducted nine nuclear testing in January alone, the most the country has ever conducted in a single month, the UN recalled.
Pyongyang has persisted in building up its ballistic missile infrastructure despite repeated warnings and harsh sanctions:
The DPRK “demonstrated expanded capability for fast deployment, broad mobility (even at sea), and better missile force resilience.”
Naturally, Russia and China refused to endorse the UN declaration accusing North Korea of using stolen cryptocurrency assets to pay for its nuclear tests.
