The largest single crypto heist ever to occur in history was disclosed by cryptocurrency exchange Bybit on Friday, revealing that a” sophisticated” attack led to the theft of more than$ 1.46 billion worth of cryptocurrency from one of its Ethereum cold ( offline ) wallets.
” The incident occurred when a move was made between our warm finances and our ETH multisig cold budget.” However, this transaction was manipulated by a powerful attack that disguised the signing interface, changing the smart contract logic underlying, and masking the signing interface, Bybit wrote in a post on X.
The perpetrator was able to take control of the damaged ETH warm wallet and move its assets to an unspecified address as a result.
CEO Ben Zhou stated in a separate statement posted on the social media platform that all other cool pockets are safe. Additionally, the business stated that it has contacted the appropriate government about the situation.
and confirmed that the renowned Lazarus Group is responsible for the modern fraud, despite there being no official confirmation from Bybit at this time. The incident makes it the biggest-ever cryptocurrency heist reported to date, that of ($ 624 million ), ($ 611 million ), and ($ 586 million ).
According to independent scholar , the and the Bybit steal were” connected on-chain,” according to , which took place late last month.
The risk artist from North Korea is one of the most active hacking organizations that has organized numerous to illicitly elude punishment for the sanctions-hit nation. Last year, Google North Korea as “arguably the world’s leading digital legal business”.
In 2024, it’s to have stolen$ 1.34 billion across 47 cryptocurrency hacks, accounting for 61 % of all ill-gotten crypto during the time period, according to blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis.
According to Google-owned Mandiant,” Cryptocurrency heists are on the rise due to the attractive nature of their rewards, the difficulties associated with attribution to destructive actors, and the opportunities presented by emerging familiarity with cryptocurrency and Web3 technologies among some organizations,” according to previous month.