Bybit Drops 10% After $1.5B Hack by North Korean Lazarus Group

North Korean hackers, known as the Lazarus Group, have successfully laundered at least $300 million from their record-breaking $1.5 billion cryptocurrency heist. This heist, targeting the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, marks one of the largest cyber thefts in history. The Lazarus Group, a notorious hacking collective linked to North Korea, has been identified as the perpetrator behind this massive cyber heist. The group has a history of targeting cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions, using sophisticated techniques to breach security systems and siphon off large sums of money.

The $1.5 billion heist from Bybit is a stark reminder of the growing threat posed by state-sponsored cybercrime. The Lazarus Group's ability to launder such a significant amount of money highlights the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies in tracking and recovering stolen funds. The group's tactics include using a network of cryptocurrency exchanges and money laundering services to convert the stolen cryptocurrency into fiat currency, making it difficult to trace the funds.

Anonymice beleive that the hackers are laboring in an officially backed initiative to finance the military and nuclear ambitions of North Korea. The authorities and blockchain researchers have been in a mad dash since then, attempting to track and freeze the stolen funds. “Every minute counts for the hackers trying to keep the money trail under wraps,” said Dr. Tom Robinson, co-founder at crypto research firm Elliptic. He stated that North Korea is the leading nation in hacked digital assets money laundering. “I bet they have an entire room of people doing this, automated software and years of experience,” Robinson said. Bybit and Elliptic’s report indicates that 20% of the pilfered funds are already “gone dark,” or traceless.

To respond, Bybit has launched the Lazarus Bounty Program, which rewards users who help track and freeze stolen assets. So far, 20 members have been compensated over $4 million for finding $40 million of the embezzled money. Specialists, however, caution that retrieving the remaining cash remains an uphill battle due to North Korea’s advanced laundering techniques. Another significant hindrance in blocking the laundering process is the non-cooperation of certain crypto exchanges. Bybit accused rival platform eXch of facilitating hackers to withdraw more than $90 million in illicit funds