Unmasking Lazarus: Investigating the Notorious North Korean Hacker Group behind Crypto Heists

2023-10-09 05:00:00

Lazarus accounts scrutinized. Lazarus Group is a group of North Korean hackers particularly active in the crypto ecosystem. The latter are at the origin of several of the biggest crypto-heists. The analytics company Elliptic decided to scrutinize the on-chain activity of hackers.

240 million dollars in 104 days

Atomic Wallet, Stake.com or even CoinEx, the last few months have been punctuated by many major crypto hacks. What do they have in common? THE North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group.

Thus, as highlighted by Elliptic in a article detailed analysis, Lazarus Group has recently scaled up its operations. Indeed, l’attack de CoinEx also seems to be linked to the hacker group.

In total, on the Last 104 days, Lazarus Group would be behind the theft of more than $240 million in cryptocurrencies. The latter would thus be involved in the hacks of:

Atomic Walletfor an amount of 100 million dollars;
CoinsPaidfor an amount of $37.3 million;
Alphapofor an amount of 60 million dollars;
Stake.comfor an amount of 41 million dollars.

To this are probably added the $50 million stolen from CoinEx exchange. Indeed, as presented by Elliptic, part of the funds stolen from CoinEx would have been sent to an address linked to the laundering of funds from the Stake.com hack.

>> Safety is the basis! To keep your cryptos close to you, trust Ledger (commercial link) <

A new target: centralized finance

Since the beginning of the year, Lazarus Group was not idle. So much so that the group went so far as to carry out several attacks on the same day. Indeed, on July 22, hackers both attacked CoinsPaid as well as Alphapo. This represents a total of $97.3 million stolen in one day.

Related Articles:  "Societe Generale Morocco's CFC Campus: An Innovative, Sustainable Hub for Synergies and Growth"

In its analysis, Elliptic states that it has detected a significant change in strategy on the part of Lazarus. Indeed, on-chain activities suggest a change of targetpassing from decentralized services to their centralized alter ego.

Of the last 5 attacks attributed to Lazarus, 4 targeted centralized platforms. In other words, a return to basics for hackers, who were used to CeFi before its DeFi transition around 2020.

On the method side, Lazarus also continues to evolve. A recent research report highlighted the use of new malware, coupled with a false recruitment strategy to infect the victim. Once again, Lazarus uses social engineering to carry out its attacks.

To sleep with peace of mind, equip yourself with a Ledger secure hardware wallet, there is something for all budgets. Your security is priceless (commercial link).

1696831520
#Lazarus #Group #million #days #North #Korean #hackers

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.