- Popular online casino Stake.com got hacked for $41 million.
- On-chain sleuths trace the hackerโs on-chain movements.
- CertiK confirms a connection with the Atomic Wallet hack.
Last Monday’s massive hack saw over $41 million in cryptocurrency stolen from Stake.com by highly experienced perpetrators. Four days after the incident, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed the culprits to be no other than the Lazarus Group, an infamous North Korean hacker group.
This theory aligns with the blockchain data retrieved from CertiK auditors, who have affirmed that the Stake exploiterโs wallet is interconnected with the Atomic Wallet hack. Carried out in early June, Atomic Wallet hack set crypto investors back around $35 million. On top of that, the FBI reports the Lazarus Group has snatched over $200 million in crypto this year so far.
Culprit Makes Illicit Moves On-Chain
Blockchain security platform CertiK has tracked down multiple moves by hackers on-chain. Firstly, Lazarus Group hackers transferred 300 BNB to external storage, bridging the funds to Avalanche (AVAX) a week later, on September 11, 2023. Today, the hackers continue the malicious moves across the chain with 1.1 ETH sent to another wallet used by the Stake exploiter.
The cybercriminals moved another 520,000 Polygon (MATIC) to Avalanche, adding another $266,000 to over $5 million cashed out. Initially, the hackers managed to bridge over $4.5 million Bitcoin (BTC) on September 7th, according to another blockchain security company, Arkham Intelligence.
While the $5 million represents 12% of the stolen funds, more crypto must be cashed out. Indeed, the hackers gradually bridged Bitcoin throughout the week but still have $35 million left in the original wallets in Ether (ETH), BNB (BNB), and MATIC, which also could be cashed out in the next few days using inventive tactics.
On the Flipside
- Stake.Com indicated the โunauthorized transactionsโ on their ETH/BSC hot wallets but stated that the customer funds are safe and the website is โfully operational.โ
- The casino is reported to hold just a small portion of the reserves in online wallets, largely because of the rising hacks and scams concerning hot crypto wallets.
Why This Matters
Breaking up multi-million dollar online heists is fundamental for cybercrime prevention.
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