Chainalysis revealed in a report that security collaborations in the crypto community led to freezing $40 million of stolen funds from the $1.4 billion Bybit exchange hack. This attack, on February 21, resulted in a significant loss of Ethereum and other tokens. Security platform Blockaid described this incident as the largest hack in the history of crypto exchanges. On the other hand, blockchain researcher ZachXBT stated that the attack was carried out by Lazarus Group affiliated with North Korea. In a new report published on February 24 by Chainalysis, the details of this attack have been disclosed. According to the report, hackers gained access to cold wallet signers’ information through a phishing attack and replaced the multi-signature exchange wallet contract with a malicious version that allowed unauthorized asset transfers. The attackers then tracked a regular transaction and moved 401,000 Ethereum units (equivalent to $1.46 billion) to their addresses. They then converted assets to Bitcoin (BTC) and DAI, making it harder to trace by splitting them between several wallets. They used decentralized exchanges (DEX), cross-chain bridges, and instant swap services without the need for identity verification (KYC) to move assets. However, blockchain transparency enables security firms to trace suspicious transactions. So far, $40 million of stolen assets from this exchange have been frozen, with ongoing efforts to recover more amounts.
