New Data Reveals North Korea’s Lazarus Group Responsible for $55 Million CoinEx Attack

CoinEX’s Hack Attack

The notorious Lazarus Group has been traced back to the CoinEX exchange hack attack. The exploit led to the loss of $55 million in virtual currencies as confirmed by SlowMist cybersecurity firm. 

The report has suggested that the hackers that are purported to be behind several major hack attacks including the Colonial Pipeline Attack in 2019. The details about the CoinEx hack have been shared by on-chain analyst ZachXBT on X recently.

Investigation into the matter has revealed evidence that connects the hack attack to the North Korean hackers. As per investigators, the hackers were identified when hackers involuntarily exposed their addresses. These addresses were traced to the hack attacks made at Optimism and Stake as well.

Massive Fund Outflows

It is important to note that CoinEx witnessed massive fund outflows on the 12th of this month that were not related to consumer transactions. Security experts connected to the matter quickly looked for signs of breach. The hackers managed to siphon off around $27 million in digital currencies.

CoinEx has issued an assurance for their clients that their lost funds are going to be restored. The trading forum has told their clients that anyone affected in the incident will receive 100% compensation for damages on account of the hack.

At the same time, the exchange proceeded to suspend withdrawals and deposit channels on a temporary basis as part of its plan to contain the hack. SlowMist has reported that the total losses of the firm now span over $55 million.

 At the same time, exchange management has continued to monitor the situation with the intention of preparing a detailed report regarding the matter. On the other hand, the same hacking group has been connected to the $41 million attack on Stake, which is a crypto gambling site.

However, FBI investigators have also connected the hack attack on Stake to the Lazarus group. Analytics firm CertiK has reported that losses resulting from hacks since January this year have reached as high as $1 billion.

Crypto Hacker Apprehended for Stealing $5.2 Million in Bitcoin

 A teenage hacker named Ahmad Wagaafe Hared hailing from Arizona was apprehended by the authorities recently. His case is due for a hearing at the San Francisco federal court. He has been charged with stealing $5.2 million in Bitcoin and a BMW using SIM swapping scam.

He tried to collect personal information from various cryptocurrency executives and investors. He then contacted their network service providers posting as a real owner of their phone numbers. He and his team proceeded to transfer the contacts and other information from their target’s phones to their own.

As soon as he got access to the mobile number, he breached their emails and other private accounts. The main goal of this exercise was to find the crypto wallets and steal all their reserves.

The courts have ordered Hared to give up 119.8 Bitcoin valued at $3.09 million. Authorities also recovered 93,420 XLM tokens from him in addition to a BMW.  Authorities have also issued an alert about a hacking group called Realst that is targeting Mac operating devices using malware to target crypto wallets.

Hackers infiltrate the computers of their victims by offering them to download a game. The hackers have also made a fake social media account about the game to appear as a legitimate entity.