US files complaints to seize $2.7 million assets stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus group  

The United States government has officially made a move to tackle the menace caused by the dreaded and notorious Lazarus group with strong ties to North Korea.

The US government filed two legal complaints on Oct 4 seeking to seize about $2.67 million worth of crypto assets stolen by the North Korean Lazarus group of hackers.

The filing revealed that the US government seeks to recover about 1.7 million in Tether which was stolen by the hackers in a 2022 exploit of the Deribit platform draining the options exchange platform of $28 million.

As soon as the hackers gained access to the Deribit hot wallet, they immediately transferred the assets to notorious crypto mixer Tornado Cash to launder them and avoid tracing their transaction trails.

The US law enforcement officials also filed to recover about $970,000 in Avalanche-bridged Bitcoin (BTC.b) stolen by the Lazarus Group. The exploit happened in 2023 and the target was Stake.com a gambling platform. The malicious attack by the Lazarus group left Stake with more than $41 million in losses.

The Menace of Lazarus Group  

The North Korean-linked Lazarus group is a notorious entity of highly advanced hackers who are responsible for most of the biggest exploits in the crypto industry. The group is dreaded for its sophisticated means of operation and its history of breaching complex platforms with top-notch security systems.

The Deribit and Stake.com hacks in 2022 and 2023 represent only a small fraction of attacks linked to the dreaded Lazarus Group. Independent blockchain investigators have seriously suspected that the group was behind the attack on India’s WazirX which led to the loss of $235 million in customer funds.

An Aug 15 report by ZachXBT a leading voice in onchain security revealed a network of North Korean developers that have infiltrated at least 25 crypto projects.

These developers use fake names to infiltrate and compromise projects looting funds in the process. ZacXBT opined that these developers all work for a single entity.

FBI warns of Social Engineering scams  

The FBI has warned the public about Social engineering scams linked to the Lazarus group which involves job scams. Victims receive job applications that are fraudulent and are deceived into downloading harmful malware which leads to the loss of their data in the process.

What to Know  

• The Lazarus group is one of the most notorious networks of Blackhat hackers and developers in the crypto industry. The entity has carried out a lot of exploits on various crypto projects leading to the loss of several millions of dollars.
• The North Korean government has denied knowledge of the group and their whereabouts.