The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a public warning regarding the theft of approximately $41 million worth of virtual currency from cryptocurrency platform Stake.com.
The FBI announced that the theft was carried out by the Lazarus Group, a group of North Korean hackers who are also responsible for some other important crypto heists.
According to the FBI, the attack took place on or around September 4, 2023 and involved the Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and Polygon networks. Hackers moved the stolen funds from Stake.com to various virtual currency addresses listed in the FBI's statement.
The FBI also revealed that the same North Korean perpetrators stole more than $200 million in virtual currency in 2023 alone. This amount includes, but is not limited to, approximately $60 million from Alphapo and CoinsPaid on July 22, 2023, and approximately $100 million from Atomic Wallet on June 2, 2023.
The FBI had previously warned the public about North Korean attacks on Harmony's Horizon bridge and Sky Mavis' Ronin Bridge and issued a cybersecurity advisory on TraderTraitor. In addition, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Lazarus Group in 2019.
The FBI has urged private sector organizations to review their cybersecurity recommendations and examine blockchain data associated with virtual currency addresses linked to hackers.
*This is not investment advice.