FBI saidthat cybercriminals with links to the North Korean regime were responsible for an attack on the US-based cryptocurrency project, Harmony Protocol, which resulted in over $100 million in damages last year.
On Monday, the FBI published a brief statement explained that they recently concluded an investigation that confirmed that a well-known North Korean hacker group called “Lazarus” was responsible for the hack. The hack involved targeting a cryptocurrency “bridge”—a kind of digital asset transfer mechanism that thing became General objective for hackers in recent years. The attack, which took place last June, exploited security vulnerabilities in Harmony’s Ethereum-based bridge, Cointelgraph’s Report.
Officials said that on January 13 of this year, the money stolen in the robbery (a whopping $60 million worth) was laundered by North Korean hackers into various crypto wallets by exchange. security protocol known as “Railgun”. Some of those funds were later “frozen” by Cryptocurrency service providers control wallets.
For years, cybercriminals have been connected to the Hermit Kingdom was blamed for high profile hacks on web3 projects. DPKR hackers not only pocket their own pockets, researchers say, but also regularly use the proceeds of crypto hacks to help fund the regime’s initiatives—including include its nuclear weapons program. Last year, the Lazarus group was also accused of having trespassing on the Ronin bridgea popular cryptocurrency project. The hackers have finally done with more than 600 million US dollars assets, making it one of the largest crypto thefts in history.
The FBI says it continues to work with its law enforcement partners to “identify and prevent the theft and laundering of North Korean virtual currency, which is used to support ballistic missile programs.” and North Korea’s Weapons of Mass Destruction”.
