Lazarus Hackers Might Be Behind CoinEx’s $55 Million Attack

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Experts from SlowMist have surmised that the Lazarus Group, a North Korea-backed hacking collective, may be responsible for the attack on CoinEx, a cryptocurrency exchange platform.

PeckShield researchers had noticed an unauthorized outflow of funds from the platform’s hot wallets, which was confirmed by CoinEx on September 12.

Deposits and withdrawals were immediately suspended to allow for an investigation, and victims were promised 100% compensation.

Their analysis revealed that around ~$55.5 million was stolen in the attack. Further investigation revealed suspicious wallets associated with other recent exploits, such as the Alphapo payment provider attack resulting in losses of up to $60 million, and the Stake betting platform being robbed of ~$41 million.

For example, a Polygon wallet received funds from both the CoinEx and Stake hacks, while an Ethereum wallet linked with Alphapo was connected to the swap of assets from the payment provider and betting platform.

With the FBI having linked the Stake attack to Lazarus Group in the past, it is highly probable that this hacking organization was behind all three incidents, according to experts.