North Korea’s Lazarus Group Blamed for Bybit Breach
The recent Bybit hack is a geopolitical issue and not a crypto security failure, Crucible Capital’s Meltem Demirors stated. On CNBC’s Power Lunch, Demirors and TrustedSec CEO David Kennedy blamed the attack on the North Korean Lazarus Group, which has been targeting digital assets.
Attack Mirrors Previous North Korean Cyber Attacks
Kennedy stated that the hack was similar to previous cyberattacks in that it utilized social engineering methods to obtain developer accounts.
- “They did a tremendous amount of research and a tremendous amount of knowledge around the exchanges and the infrastructure and how these types of public and private key cryptography pieces function,” Kennedy said.
Safe Wallet Infrastructure Targeted
The exploit was aimed at ‘Bybit’s Safe Wallet’ infrastructure, and the funds stolen were passed through a network of 50,000 addresses to disguise transactions. In spite of that, Demirors noted that Bitcoin’s cold storage security has not been breached, even with the private key vulnerabilities.
Enhancing Industry Collaboration to Tackle Crypto Hacks
Demirors continued that this type of attack would have been catastrophic to Bybit in 2022 or 2023, but the increasing cooperation between security firms, exchanges, and governments has significantly improved asset tracking and freezing.
Bitcoin’s Investment Case Remains Unshaken
Both specialists affirmed that while the attack demonstrates the need for improved security, it does not nullify Bitcoin’s investment case.
“This is a North Korea issue. It’s going to be a North Korea issue,” Demirors said. “The Trump administration is smart on crypto. They don’t view this as a crypto issue.”
Kennedy stated that while cryptocurrency systems are designed to be secure, human vulnerabilities pose the biggest risk.
