- Bybit confirms suffering from a large cyber attack
- The hackers stole approximately 1.5 billion dollars from Ethereum
- Their identities are not confirmed, but researchers speculate that it was Lazarus
One of the greatest exchanges of cryptocurrency in the world has undergone a devastating cyber attack in which it has lost about 1.5 billion dollars in Ethereum.
The attack on Bybit was confirmed by the CEO of the company, Ben Zhou, who said that threat actors had siphone the stock market reserves and not customer funds.
Although it is the greatest robbery in the history of crypto, Zhou noted that the company remains solvent and is not threatened with existential, and congratulated the great players in the industry, which are rallied behind the victims and offered help.
Lazarus
The attack itself was quite sophisticated. Bybit kept ETH in a multi-signating cold wallet, a method considered as sure as possible. It also means that to move funds, several people should sign the transaction.
Apparently, the attackers managed to compromise all the employees involved in the transfer of funds, and when the company wanted to withdraw cold storage funds in a “hot portfolio” to support its daily activities, the attackers were able to redirect the funds .
Not all the people involved had what had happened, because on their monitors, all the information checked.
The news sent shock waves throughout the cryptosphere. Hundreds of thousands of people have launched withdrawals from their money from Bybit, fearing that society could not serve everyone (as was the case with Celsius in 2021). Ethereum fell by around 4% on the news.
For the first time, faced with extremely bad news, the cryptography industry has shown incredible resilience. Usually, news as it would send not only Ethereum, but also Bitcoin, and with them, most of the other falling currencies, destroying a significant part of their value in a few hours. However, Ethereum has lost 4% “just” (which is almost negligible in the world of cryptography) and has rebounded relatively quickly. Bybit served all its customers during the “Bank Run” and continues to operate normally.
The identity of the attackers has not yet been confirmed, although some researchers think that it is Lazarus’ work, a infamous threat of threat sponsored by the North Korean state. Indeed, Lazarus is known to target cryptography companies and, being on the pay of North Korea, certainly has the means to make a breakage like this.
Via The guardian
