Lazarus Unleashed: $44M Crypto Heist

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Ah, the joys of cryptocurrency! 🤯 India’s two largest crypto exchanges, WazirX and CoinDCX, have been hacked not once, but twice 🎉, with a year’s gap between them, and on the same date, no less! 🕰️ Experts say it’s no coincidence, and we’re inclined to agree 🤔.

The cybersecurity firm Cyvers, which detected both breaches, believes the latest attack on CoinDCX bears the hallmarks of North Korea’s Lazarus Group 🕵️‍♂️, known for their sophisticated, state-sponsored hacking tactics 🤖.

A Hack Worthy of a Bond Villain

The CoinDCX hack resulted in a loss of $44.2 million 💸, but the real pièce de résistance was the speed and precision of the attack ⏱️. The entire operation took a mere five minutes, involving a complex web of multiple chains and crypto tools 🕸️.

Cyvers CEO Deddy Lavid pointed out the telltale signs of Lazarus Group’s involvement, such as targeting centralized systems, exploiting cross-chain bridges, and laundering transactions using Tornado Cash 🚿. The attackers seemed to have an intimate understanding of exchange liquidity flows 💸.

On July 16, the hackers moved funds through Tornado Cash, FixedFloat, Polygon, and finally to Solana 🗺️. On July 18, they tested the waters with 1 USDT 💧, before unleashing the full fury of their attack, siphoning off $44 million in a mere five minutes ⏱️. Cleanup transfers followed an hour later, like a tidy little maid 🧹.

CoinDCX CEO Sumit Gupta assured users that the issue was quickly contained and that no customer funds were affected 🙏. He added that the stolen amount came from the company’s reserves, which is just a nice way of saying “we’re made of sterner stuff” 💪. The breach only came to light after blockchain investigator ZachXBT posted about it 📢. CoinDCX has also offered 25% of recovered funds to ethical hackers who help retrieve the stolen crypto, a move that’s either very generous or very clever 🤔.

The Cat and Mouse Game Continues

But this incident reveals a deeper issue: traditional security systems are like a rusty old trap 🪤, unable to keep up with the speed and complexity of modern attacks 🚀. In 2024, centralized exchanges saw a 900% increase in losses, mostly due to access control failures and key leaks 🔓. Attacks like these bypass standard monitoring tools and move assets across chains faster than human teams can react ⏱️.

These kinds of hacks are becoming as common as a Moscow traffic jam 🚗. Just in Q2 2024, over 65% of crypto losses came from centralized exchanges like this one 📊. Cyvers notes that the industry needs better real-time monitoring and off-chain checks to prevent more damage 🚧.

Meanwhile, India’s delay in crypto regulations is proving to be a costly dalliance 💸. Former Finance Secretary, Subhash Chandra Garg notes that the lack of clear rules around crypto use cases and trading is contributing to major breaches like the WazirX and now the CoinDCX hack 🤦‍♂️. While the U.S strides ahead with strong crypto laws, India continues to dither, and this could prove to be a costly mistake in the long run 🤔.

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2025-07-22 11:57