FBI Confirms: Ronin Network Hack Was Done By North Korean Hackers

FBI confirms the Ronin network hack was done by North Korean hackers that resulted in the loss of $620 million and a wallet was connected to the attackers by the Treasury Department initially as we reproted recently in our cryptocurrency news.

The theft of $620 million in crypto-related to the bridge hack against the Ronin Network is the latest crime committed by North Korean hackers, the FBI confirms. The FBI issued a statement on Thursday and indicated that the cyber actors known as the Lazarus Group are responsible for attacking the bridge and stealing $620 million. The agency called cybercrime and digital asset theft the latest crypto-related activity that was conducted by North Korean hackers.

Sky Mavis the company behind the Axie Infinity game, revealed that the hackers stole up to $620 million in ETH in March from the Ronin Network and the latter also allows users to bridge crypto from one blockchain to another. Lazarus Group is a well-known group of hackers from North Korea so the US authorities promised to sanction the crypto addresses linked to the perpetrators that committed the cybercrime. Some previous attacks launched by the Lazarus Group brought in illicit revenue for North Korea to fund the nuclear and ballistic missile program.

According to the reports from Chainalysis, up to $1.75 billion worth of crypto was stolen by the Lazarus Group. The paper informed that the group stole and laundered huge sums of digital currencies since 2018 and the most successful hack was against KuCoin when they netted over $250 million. In 2021 alone, the sanctioned state launched about seven cyberattacks targeted at crypto platforms which extracted $400 million worth of digital assets among the stolen assets, ETH accounted for 58%, BTC for 20%, and other altcoins 22%.

Besides imposing sanctions and boosting cybersecurity measures, there’s not much the US can do to battle these kinds of cyberattacks because the government has a low chance of extraditing the criminals to US soil.

The US Treasury connected the ETH Wallet address to a sanctioned list and tied it to North Korea’s Lazarus Group hackers. This is the same address that was related to the recent $622 million attacks on the Ronin network of Axie Infinity. The hacking group is responsible for last month’s hack of the Ronin sidechain which is used by the play-to-earn game Axie Infinity.