State-backed North Korean hackers have stolen $1.5bn (£1.2bn) of cryptocurrency in the largest heist in history.

The hackers stole more cryptocurrency in one attack than all the funds stolen by North Korean cyber criminals in 2024, when the rogue state’s cyber attackers made off with around $1.3bn in digital coins, according to cryptocurrency analysts Chainalysis.

  • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
    10·
    2 days ago

    Agents from Pyongyang were able to breach the systems of Dubai-based exchange Bybit to steal the digital coin Ether, according to security analysts.

    *More

    Hackers gained access to Bybit’s internal systems using so-called “phishing” email, which prompted an employee to input their login details to a seemingly legitimate website that was actually compromised.

    The hackers were then able to gain access to a so-called “cold wallet” – a supposedly secure cryptocurrency storage device that holds coins offline and away from the internet. When Bybit came to transfer funds from the offline wallet to its online systems, the hackers sabotaged the transfer and stole the funds.

    • Tamo240@programming.dev
      1·
      8 hours ago

      Why does any one employee have the ability to unilaterally move this much value? Even in non-malicious circumstances that doesn’t seem like a good way of organising a currency?