Lazarus Is Taking Millions From $305M DMM Bitcoin Hack: ZachXBT
In May, the hackers behind the $305 million hack of cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin reportedly made off with more than $35 million from an online marketplace in Cambodia.
According to cryptocurrency sleuth ZachXBT, the money has been laundered to guarantee Huione, which operates in Cambodia and has been linked to the nation's “ruling hun family,” blockchain forensics firm Elliptic said in a July 10 post.
The market has transferred $11 billion worth of crypto from hacking, pork scams and other exploits, Elliptic said.
“The Lazarus Group is suspected to be behind the hack because of similarities in laundry techniques and chain-killing indicators,” ZachXBT said.
Hackers deposit stolen bitcoins into a secret mixer, mine that bitcoin and link those funds to Ethereum or Avalanche via the cross-chain liquidity protocol THORChain.
According to ZackXBT, the funds were converted to USDT and bridged to Tron before being transferred to Huione.
However, $28.2 million was blocked from being transferred to Huione after the Tron Wallet address “TNVaK…s4Ug8” captured the Tron Wallet address “TNVaK…s4Ug8” on July 12.
This is the wallet that took out about $14 million from the DMM Bitcoin hack over a three-day period, according to ZachXBT.
ZachXBT shared 538 wallet addresses with Lazarus Group, Huione and others linked to the DMM Bitcoin hack.
Related: UwU loans hit by $20M crypto hack
Japan-based DMM Bitcoin lost $305 million in Bitcoin after a critical vulnerability was exploited. The vulnerability allowed the hackers to access DMM's Bitcoin servers, causing an “unauthorized Bitcoin leak” on May 30.
The cryptocurrency exchange raised $320 million after just one week to compensate users for their losses.
More than $1.4 billion worth of cryptocurrencies will be stolen by 2024, according to blockchain security firm Syvers.
Centralized exchanges have become a prime target for hackers, with losses increasing 900% in the past 12 months.
“This quarter has seen a significant change in attack vectors, with Central Exchange (CEX) bearing the brunt of major incidents, while decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols are showing improved resilience,” Sievers said.
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