A North Korean hacker group is responsible for stealing $1.5 billion in digital coins from crypto exchange Bybit. There were already suspicions, but the FBI has now confirmed the news.
On Friday, February 21, cybercriminals stole $1.5 billion of cryptocurrencies from Dubai-based Bybit. The crypto exchange’s officials were tricked during a routine transaction so that the money did not end up in a Bybit vault but was instead redirected to an unknown address.
According to the investigation, 401,000 ether, the platform’s cryptocurrency Ethereum, was stolen in the hack.
The US government agency claims that the TraderTraitor group is behind the theft. It is said to be part of the Lazarus group, which in turn is linked to the North Korean regime.
The FBI warns that the hackers are now laundering the assets and converting them into currency. “The TraderTraitor actors are moving quickly and have converted some of the stolen assets into bitcoin and other virtual assets across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains,” it said.