The realm of crypto has been witnessing a surge in malicious activities recently, if reliable data from one Blockchain detective, ZachXBT, and the reputable CoinDesk is anything to go by. The trail of breadcrumbs left behind has led to suspicion towards North Korean cyber operatives who are linked to a preceding crypto exploit. The recent victim of this security breach is CoinEx exchange, as attackers siphoned off an unexpected count of $54 million, a figure that initially totaled at $27 million.
These hackers drained this significant sum from the exchange in the form of various tokens such as ether (ETH), XRP, tron’s TRX, MATIC, solana’s SOL, kadena’s KDA and dagger’s XDAG. They accomplished this by capitalizing on a security slip on wallets utilized by the exchange. Following the incident, CoinEx revealed more than 10 suspicious addresses on numerous networks, including Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Arbitrum.
On further inspection of these wallets, ZachXBT confirmed some transactions were directed to wallets previously wrapped up in a $41 million exploit of crypto betting platform Stake. These wallets, alarmingly, have a connection to Lazarus, the notorious North Korean attacker group that has a penchant for targeting crypto operations.
Then there’s this other address, seeming to be funded directly by the Stake infiltrator quite recently. This address then was the recipient of tokens from the CoinEx breach, weaving an intricate web of deceit and corruption. On Wednesday, CoinEx officials bid to reassure their users, claiming the stolen funds are merely a fraction of users’ total holdings, and that the remaining assets are safe and secure.
Despite undergoing this substantial slap-down, CoinEx, noted as a Samoa-registered entity, maintained impressive market activities as their records indicate. It managed to trade over $22 million across 730 offered trading pairs on its platform within 24 hours of the hack.
Despite the reassurances from CoinEx and the prompt investigation, this incident puts good-intentioned crypto enthusiasts on high alert. Users will undeniably be revisiting their reliance on existing security measures and their trust in these platforms. Oddly enough, the spotlight shone on the world of cyber-attacks indirectly highlights the potency of blockchain technology by showcasing the lengths attackers are willing to go through to sabotage it.
Source: Coindesk
