Coinspeaker
Feb 27, 2025
9 0

FBI Identifies North Korean Hackers in $1.5 Billion Bybit Theft

2 min

The FBI has confirmed that North Korean hackers executed the Bybit hack on February 21, 2025, marking it as the largest cryptocurrency theft to date, with nearly $1.5 billion in Ethereum stolen.

Key Points of the Incident

  • The attack, named "TraderTraitor," is linked to a series of cyberattacks by state-sponsored North Korean hackers.
  • Stolen funds were converted into Bitcoin and distributed across multiple blockchain addresses.
  • The FBI warned that the assets will likely be liquidated into fiat currency.
  • Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has also connected the hack to North Korean hackers, providing wallet addresses related to the incident.
  • Bybit's CEO, Ben Zhou, announced a campaign against the Lazarus Group, responsible for the hack.

Details of the Breach

  • The security breach involved a cold storage wallet, usually considered secure, leading to a loss of approximately $1.5 billion in Ethereum.
  • Investigator ZachXBT was the first to identify suspicious transactions from Bybit's wallets.
  • The attackers used a sophisticated method, replicating the Safe Wallet platform to deceive Bybit's security team.
  • Despite the breach, Bybit assured users that only one wallet was compromised, and other wallets remained secure.
  • Withdrawal functions continued to operate normally, and Bybit secured loans to cover the shortfall resulting from the hack.