Unprecedented Crypto Heist: How North Korea Just Pulled Off the Biggest Theft in History

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At just after 2 PM last Friday, a notorious hacking group known for some of the most devastating cybercrimes of the modern era executed what could be considered their most audacious crime to date. Within a matter of minutes, approximately $1.46 billion in digital assets vanished from Bybit, one of the world's leading cryptocurrency exchanges, and were quickly funneled through the internet into anonymous wallets.

 

This staggering theft now holds the title as the largest heist in history. To put it into perspective, the stolen sum is nearly 30 times greater than the UK's most significant cash robbery—the £53 million stolen in the 2006 Securitas depot heist. It also surpasses by nearly half a billion dollars the infamous theft committed by Saddam Hussein, who took funds from the Iraqi Central Bank on the eve of the 2003 Iraq War, which has often been regarded as the largest financial theft of all time.

 

While details of the attack are still emerging, one crucial element of cryptocurrency breaches sets them apart: the ability to track stolen funds in real time. Blockchain technology serves as an immutable digital ledger, ensuring that every transaction and asset movement can be traced, even if the identities of the wallet holders remain hidden. Investigators have been following the flow of stolen assets as the perpetrators attempt to launder them through a network of digital wallets and exchanges. The pattern of these transactions closely mirrors techniques previously employed by one of the world’s most sophisticated hacking organizations: the Lazarus Group.

 

Allegedly backed by North Korea since its formation in 2009, the Lazarus Group has been linked to numerous high-profile cyberattacks, including the infamous 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack that infected 200,000 computers across 150 countries, severely impacting institutions such as the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). The group has also been responsible for multiple cryptocurrency-related crimes in the past, but Friday’s operation represents their largest haul yet. The stolen amount is roughly equivalent to North Korea’s entire defense budget in 2023, which stood at $1.47 billion.

 

According to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, the Bybit hack followed a well-established method previously employed by Lazarus, leveraging social engineering to gain initial access to funds. The breach occurred during a routine transfer from Bybit’s Ethereum cold wallet, a secure offline storage system, to its online hot wallet. By exploiting individuals responsible for verifying wallet addresses through highly targeted phishing attacks, the hackers successfully deceived them into approving transfers to wallets under the control of Lazarus.

 

“A security system is only as strong as its weakest link. In Bybit’s case, there was a security loophole when Ledger [a hardware wallet] and Safe{Wallet} [a digital wallet app] were used together,” said Shahar Madar, vice president of security and trust at blockchain platform Fireblocks, in a statement to The Independent.

 

North Korea’s Lazarus Group remains the most advanced and well-resourced crypto-laundering entity in the world, continually refining their tactics to evade detection and asset seizure. “The transparency of blockchains means that this transaction trail can be followed, but these layering tactics can complicate the tracing process, buying the launderers valuable time to cash out the assets,” Elliptic, a blockchain security firm, explained in a blog post.

 

Elliptic, working closely with Bybit, has already managed to recover some of the stolen assets from the Dubai-based exchange. However, the sheer scale of the theft presents an enormous challenge. As authorities and cybersecurity experts continue to track the remaining funds, the battle against North Korea’s state-backed cybercriminals intensifies. The Lazarus Group’s latest heist underscores not only the vulnerabilities in the digital financial landscape but also the persistent and evolving threat posed by state-sponsored hacking organizations.

 

Based on a report by The Independent  2025-02-28

 

 

[thesetat]

2 hours ago, Social Media said:

but Friday’s operation represents their largest haul yet. The stolen amount is roughly equivalent to North Korea’s entire defense budget in 2023, which stood at $1.47 billion.

I guess that means this year N. Korea will have enough money that they can double down on nuclear tests and their building of nuclear weapons. Surely that money will no be used to help their oppressed people.