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Jafrin Ahmed
Jun 30, 2022
by Jafrin Ahmed

North Korea’s Lazarus Group Behind $100M Harmony Hack: Report

Lazarus Group Harmony Hack

Table of contents

  1. Shocking Details Behind Harmony's Recent Hack
North Korean hacker group, The Lazarus Group is likely behind last week's hack of Harmony Bridge, according to a new analysis by blockchain research firm Elliptic.

Shocking Details Behind Harmony's Recent Hack

According to a report released today by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, the recent $100 million hack of Harmony protocol points to the involvement of The Lazarus Group, a notorious North Korea-affiliated cyber criminal organization.

In April, the FBI concluded that Lazarus, a "state-sponsored hacking organization," was behind the $622M hack of a cross-chain bridge used by the Play-to-Earn game Axie Infinity.

Harmony's hack similarly occurred on the Horizon bridge, a cross-chain bridge connecting Harmony to Ethereum, Binance Chain, and Bitcoin. Elliptic's report noted similarities between both cross-chain bridge attacks as one indication of Lazarus' likely involvement. Additionally, the stolen funds have been laundered in a pattern similar to the Axie Infinity hack.

"There are strong indications that North Korea's Lazarus Group may be responsible for this theft, based on the nature of the hack and the subsequent laundering of the stolen funds," Elliptic wrote in a blog post.
"Although no single factor proves the involvement of Lazarus, in combination they suggest the group's involvement," the report added.

Other factors include the Harmony team having ties to the Asia Pacific region with Lazarus usually going after Asia-based targets, potentially due to the languages used. Further, the only times the hackers have stopped offloading laundered funds are consistent with nighttime hours in the Asia Pacific region.

Meanwhile, recent research conducted by Coincub estimated that North Korea is the world's top-ranked nation for cryptocurrency crimes.

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Axie Infinity The Lazarus Group North Korea Harmony Bridge Harmony Hack North korea Harmony Hack Harmony Bridge
North Korea’s Lazarus Group Behind $100M Harmony Hack: Report
Jafrin Ahmed
Jafrin is a cryptocurrency journalist/researcher fascinated by the world of decentralization. She is hopeful towards blockchain’s innovation and its potential to reshape the world for good. Currently, she is bringing out the best of cryptosphere via covering the latest ins and outs of the blockchain space.

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