Cyberspace was again thrusted into the spotlight following a suspicious withdrawal of approximately $2.7 million worth of cryptocurrencies from Remitano crypto exchange on September 14, igniting fears of a potential security gap in the crypto platform. It is a potent reminder of the need to handle security features with utmost integrity or face the perilous possibility of losing huge sums.
The dubious transaction was brought to light by Cyvers, a blockchain analytics firm, reporting an unexpected transfer of, among others, $1.4 million in Tether (USDT), $208,000 in USD Coin (USDC), and 104,000 Ankr tokens from the Remitano hot wallet. Consequent responses were swift, with Tether halting movement of the ‘drained’ USDT, safeguarding the $1.4 million sizeable portion of the pilfered crypto.
Yet, the drama didn’t end there. PeckShieldAlert presented further alarming information on September 15 about continuous suspicious transactions that bled over $2.7 million off the exchange’s Ethereum and TRON wallets. A quick move was made by Tether, this time freezing two attacker-linked addresses, safeguarding the whole $2.7 million USDT in an impressive move.
The individual on the Ethereum blockchain cleverly changed the stolen USDC and Ankr tokens into about 163 ETH, priced roughly at $264,000, and then securely transferred these funds to the HitBTC exchange.
In 2023, the Lazarus Group, a cybercrime network with alleged links to the North Korean government, started a rather alarming trend of attacks on crypto exchanges. These attacks resulted in the compromise of private keys, opening gates to severe cryptocurrency theft.
The Lazarus Group has been implicitly connected to a series of attacks, including a striking $41 million hack of the crypto gambling platform Stake and a suspected attack on CoinEx that led to a loss exceeding $27 million. Additionally, it has been linked to high-profile hacks of Alphapo, CoinsPaid, and Atomic Wallet, collectively accounting for over $200 million in stolen funds.
These attacks underline the importance of vigilant security measures in the crypto landscape. Careful attention should be given to safeguard our wallets, else we risk seeing more prominent unwarranted money transfers. Meanwhile, we can celebrate the efficacy of swift responses in mitigating potential disaster in Remitano’s case.
Source: Cryptonews
