How North Korea pulled off a $1.5 billion crypto heist—the biggest in history
1 min read
Summary
On Friday, cryptocurrency exchange, Bybit, revealed that threat actors had stolen $1.5bn in digital assets, making it the largest theft in cryptocurrency history.
The removal of the funds from Bybit’s platform was confirmed by officials, but hours after the crime was detected, highlighting how quick the organisation was to react.
The coins were stored in a Multisig Cold Wallet, which is regarded as one of the most secure ways to store such digital assets and the theft shows how sophisticated the hackers were.
Researchers have suggested the hack was carried out by North Korea’s Lazarus Group, which has been linked to the nation’s weapons of mass destruction programme.
To prevent such a huge success, Bybit has said it will offer a $1m reward for information about the perpetrators, while the industry has been urged to collaborate more closely to protect against such attacks.
