“Thanks to our investigation, we confirm that the Lazarus Group and APT38, online actors associated with North Korea, are responsible for the theft,” the FBI said in a statement.
In 2014, Lazarus Group was accused of pirating Sony Pictures Entertainment as revenge for “The Interview,” a satirical film that mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea’s cyber program has expanded since the mid-1990s into a 6,000-strong unit, known as Office 121, operating from various countries including Belarus, China, India, Malaysia and Russia, according to a report. 2020 us military.
North Korean hackers stole some $400 million (€370 million) worth of cryptocurrency through cyberattacks on digital currency outlets last year, blockchain data platform Chainalysis claimed in January.
In the case of the Axie Infinity heist, hackers took advantage of weaknesses in the setup put in place by the company behind the game, Vietnam-based Sky Mavis.
The company had to address a problem: the ethereum blockchain, where transactions in the ether cryptocurrency are recorded, is relatively slow and expensive. So, to allow Axie Infinity players to buy and sell at speed, the company created an in-game currency and sidechain with a bridge to the main Ethereum blockchain.
The result was faster and cheaper, but ultimately less secure.