The Federal Bureau of Investigation, also known as FBI, has issued a warning to crypto ventures, seeking them to take up security measures on priority. This comes to light after the FBI observed that malicious actors based in North Korea were behind the attacks on major protocols, stealing funds amounting to more than $40 million.
The FBI has identified three accused, namely Lazarus Group and APT38. The extent of their role and damage is yet to be identified, but if the patterns are to be followed, then it is safe to assume that hundreds of millions of dollars have been stolen by DPRK, that is, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In the last 24 hours, the FBI has reportedly been able to track BTC worth $40 million. This roughly translates to 1,580 BTC tokens stolen from different protocols or networks. There is a chance that DPRK will try to liquidate the stolen assets, believes the FBI under the idea that the theft has been done for the motive of pocketing funds for their nation.
The FBI has urged private entities to examine or investigate the wallets that are linked to the theft of cryptocurrencies. They have also been asked to stay vigilant about such activities and possibly up the security measures that they have deployed. The FBI has assured the community that they will continue to expose those who are behind illicit activities. Needless to say, this refers to DPRK and its alleged activities.
The FBI has also said that the intention is to generate revenue for the regime.
Other nations to have reported such an attack include Japan. They have even sought measures that can be put in place to minimize, if not stop, such attacks. Nikesh Arora, the Chief Executive Officer of Palo Alto Network, has echoed a similar tone as that of the FBI. Nikesh has said that crypto ventures need to modernize their systems and beef up their security measures. Considering the intention is to shield the community from such incidents, this has come as a recommendation that has to be prioritized at all costs.
More attacks have been conducted in the past. This refers to the theft of $60 million from Alphapo and $37 million from CoinsPad on June 22, 2023. As a matter of fact, Atomic Wallet has flagged a larger concern after losing $100 million worth of funds to such an attack.
There has also been a theft of $625 million against Horizon Bridge by Harmony and Sky Mavis.
Lazarus was last seen attempting to liquidate $63 million worth of funds. These were linked to Horizon Bridge. Fortunately, efforts from the industry were successful in letting Lazarus pursue their intentions to the endpoint.
However, the fact can still not be ignored that stealing funds from protocols or networks is majorly a conspiracy of select groups that originate from unfriendly nations.
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