Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has declared an offensive against the notorious Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacker collective known for previous attacks on crypto exchanges, following the largest crypto theft.
Bybit's CEO, Ben Zhou, announced the initiative via social media, unveiling a new website designed to track the group's wallet addresses and crowdsource investigative efforts.
The website, described by Zhou as the first of its kind, aims to provide full transparency on the sanctioned group's money laundering activities. Users are encouraged to connect their wallets to the platform to aid in tracing stolen funds.
Bybit has pledged a 5% bounty for submissions that lead to the freezing of assets, with payments made immediately upon successful asset recovery.
The platform is currently tracking 6,338 addresses linked to the Lazarus Group, with approximately $42.3 million already frozen, representing just over 3% of the stolen assets. Plans are in place to expand the platform's use to assist other victims of the group in the future.
The breach, which occurred last Friday, involved the theft of nearly $1.4 billion from Bybit, marking it as the largest crypto exchange attack to date. The hack was detected during a routine transfer process within one of Bybit's Ethereum cold wallets.
Attackers employed a sophisticated method to alter the smart contract logic and mask the signing interface, diverting over 400,000 Ethereum and staked Ethereum to an unidentified address.
Following the attack, on-chain detective ZachXBT linked the activity to the Lazarus Group. ZachXBT and blockchain analytics firm Elliptic both identified the group as the perpetrators, noting similarities with the previous Phemex attack.