North Korean state-sponsored hacking group Lazarus suspected of stealing nearly $60m from payment processing platform Alphapo on 23 July 2023 · 23.07.2023
A North Korean state-sponsored hacking group is suspected of stealing nearly $60 million from payment processing platform Alphapo on 23 July 2023, the blockchain investigator ZachXBT reported via Twitter on the same day.
Upon further analysis, ZachXBT suspected the Lazarus group to be behind the attack, on 25 July 2023. Noting parallels to past exploits, the COO of the blockchain security company Halborn supported this assessment.
In a review of the incident, Halborn CEO Rob Behnke explained that the hack was enabled by the leak of private keys. Access to these private keys allowed the hackers to create transactions to transferred funds to their own wallets.
On 22 August 2023, the FBI warned cryptocurrency companies of a possible USD 40 million transfer of cryptocurrencies by North Korean-affiliated actors, also known as Lazarus, which are linked to cyberattacks on cryptocurrency companies. In the same warning, the FBI also attributed the cyber incident on cryptocurrency companies Alphapo, CoinsPaid and AtomicWallet to the Lazarus hacking group.
Sources cited by EuRepoC (19)
Show 14 more
Lazarus hackers linked to $60 million Alphapo cryptocurrency heist · 2023-07
Lazarus hackers linked to $60 million Alphapo cryptocurrency heist
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lazarus-hackers-linked-to-60-million-alphapo-cryptocurrency-heist/
AlphaPo - REKT · 07/22/2023
Excerpt: AlphaPo lost $60M and it barely raises an eyebrow… Stories of compromised hot wallets leave little to be said. But one thing’s for sure, Lazarus isn’t getting bored. | Article date: 07/26/2023
Alphapo theft · June 2023
In June 2023, North Korean hackers stole approximately $60 million in virtual currency from Alphapo, a centralized virtual currency payment provider, and approximately $37 million in virtual currency from CoinsPaid, another virtual currency payment platform. [Case No. 2:24-cv-04640, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California; filing: COMPLAINT No Fee Required - US Government, filed by plaintiff UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.]
Alphapo theft (Panamanian company) · on or about July 22, 2023
... and approximately $101 million from Alphapo, a Panamanian company. ... on or about July 22, 2023, North Korean hackers stole approximately $101 million in virtual currency from Alphapo [Case No. 1:25-cv-03771, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; filing: COMPLAINT against APPROXIMATELY 1,159,834.52 USDT]
Alphapo theft (July 22nd 2023) · Sep 15, 2023
On the same day, July 22nd, Lazarus conducted another high-profile attack, this time against centralized crypto payment provider Alphapo, stealing $60 million in cryptoassets.
Alphapo breach · published 2023-09-13
CertiK has identified transactions connecting the Atomic Wallet, Alphapo, CoinsPaid, Stake.com, and CoinEx breaches, serving as on-chain evidence of Lazarus Group's involvement.