Crypto exchanges Binance and Huobi on Tuesday froze $1.4 million in crypto tied to the Harmony Bridge heist alleged to be North Korean hackers.
The North Korean-based hacker Group, Lazarus resorted to different privacy mixers attempting to anonymize the stolen funds, but it didn’t work.
The investigation was carried out by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, according to a report shared by the firm on Feb. 14. However, the firm didn’t state what coins or tokens were frozen.
In the blog post, Elliptic said it provided intelligence to the Binance and Huobi exchanges that prompted them to freeze accounts. It said it traced the funds back to the $100 million hack of a “bridge” that allowed Harmony blockchain users to move crypto assets between different ecosystems.
Although both Binance and Houbi have not released a statement relating to the development, Elliptic however shared a snapshot of the unsuccessful heist on its Twitter page.
“Exchanges @binance and @HuobiGlobal today froze accounts containing $1.4 million stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus Group. This was made possible thanks to intel from Elliptic’s real-time investigations tools and a swift response by the receiving exchanges,” the tweet read.
Investors King understands that crypto theft has been on the rise in recent times, with billions of dollars lost to theft last year. 2022 was judged to have witnessed the largest amount of crypto heists combined with more than $3.8 billion worth of stolen assets.
According to CoinGeko, the biggest hack of 2022 was carried out through an access control which was an attack on Axie Infinity leading to the loss of about $625 million.
Although the cryptocurrency industry has come a long way since its inception, it is still vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
As the industry continues to grow, its users must beware of the methods used by hackers and take the necessary steps to protect their funds.
These include using strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, and avoiding suspicious links or emails. By taking these precautions, users can reduce the risk of falling victim to hackers and cryptocurrency exploits.