- BYBIT confirms suffering
- Hackers stole approx. $ 1.5 billion Ethereum
- Their identities are not confirmed but scientists speculate that it was Lazarus
One of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world has suffered a devastating cyberattack where it lost approx. 1.5 billion dollars of Ethereum.
The attack against ByBT was confirmed by the company’s CEO, Ben Zhou, who said the threat actors were sifling the exchange’s reserves and not customer funds.
Despite this being the biggest heist of Crypto’s history, Zhou noted that the company remains solvent and is not under any existential threat, and famous the industry’s great players behind the victims and offered help.
Lazarus
The attack itself was quite sophisticated. BYBIT held ETH in a multi-signature cold wallet, a method considered the safest possible. This also means that in order to move any funds, several people need to sign the transaction.
Apparently, attackers somehow succeeded in compromising all the employees involved in fund transfer and when the company wanted to withdraw money from cold storage to a “hot wallet” to support its daily activities, the striker was in place to redirect the funds.
All the people involved never knew what happened, because on their screens, all the information checked out.
The news sent shock waves throughout the cryptosphere. Hundreds of thousands of people launched withdrawal of their money from Bybit, in fear that the company would not be able to earn everyone (as was the case with Celsius back in 2021). Ethereum fell approx. 4% on the news.
For the first time, in light of extremely bad news, the crypto industry showed incredible resilience. Normally, news like this would not only send Ethereum but also Bitcoin, and with them most other currencies that tumble, wipe out a significant portion of their value in a matter of hours. However, Ethereum lost “just” 4% (which is almost insignificant in the crypto over) and rebound relatively quickly. BYBT served all its customers under “Bank Run” and continues to function normally.
Attackers identity has not yet been confirmed, although some researchers believe this is the work of Lazarus, a notorious North Korean state -sponsored threat actor. In fact, Lazarus is known for targeting cryptic companies, and being on North Korea’s payroll has determined the means to pull out a heist like this.
Via The Guardian
