North Korean hacker accused of $290 million cryptocurrency theft

Over the weekend, hackers stole over $290 million in cryptocurrencies from Kelp DAO, a protocol that permits customers to earn yield on their idle crypto investments.

By Monday, LayerZero, one of many initiatives affected by the hack, had accused North Korea of ​​finishing up the theft. The hack is the most important cryptocurrency theft of the 12 months to this point, following the April hack on cryptocurrency trade Drift that netted hackers about $285 million in earnings.

In accordance with a put up on X, LayerZero mentioned hackers exploited the Kelp DAO by way of the LayerZero bridge, which permits totally different blockchains to ship directions to one another. The hackers then took benefit of Kelp’s distinctive safety configuration, which doesn’t require a number of verifications earlier than approving a transaction. This allowed hackers to siphon funds by way of fraudulent transactions.

The corporate cited “preliminary indicators” pointing to North Korea, particularly a crypto-targeting hacking group often known as TraderTraitor, because the perpetrator.

Kelp DAO responded to LayerZero and accused them of theft on their behalf.

Lately, North Korean hackers working for Kim Jong Un’s regime have been extremely profitable in stealing cryptocurrencies. Final 12 months, North Korean hackers stole greater than $2 billion in cryptocurrencies. The overall quantity of cryptocurrencies stolen by North Korea since 2017 is alleged to be roughly $6 billion.