Bybit Becomes Victim of Biggest Crypto Heist Ever
In the latest hack, Dubai-headquartered exchange Bybit is believed to have become a victim of the largest crypto heist ever.
Hackers stole around $1.5 billion of digital tokens from Bybit on February 21, marking the largest single known cryptocurrency theft in history. According to a statement by the crypto exchange, the hack involved one of its Ethereum cold wallets that led to a transfer to an unidentified address. It notes that all other cold wallets are secure, withdrawals have not been halted and its clients’ assets are fully backed by a reserve.
«We are working alongside leading blockchain forensic experts to trace the stolen funds and resolve the situation,» Bybit added.
Established in 2018, Bybit is the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume with over 50 million users, according to its website.
Lazarus Group
The attack is believed to have been done by Lazarus Group by using a fake interface acting as a nearly identical copy of the trusted platform to deceive users into signing off on the cold wallet transaction.
«[T]he so-called Lazarus Group, which is assumed to be led by North Korean hackers according to internet protocol (IP) tracking, has faced the challenge of offloading the assets in a blockchain environment that is highly transparent,» said Manuel Villegas, next generation research analyst at Julius Baer.
«Their public addresses are being closely monitored by every single player in the space, and they will have a hard time offloading the remainder of the stolen funds, which could take years.»
