A sophisticated threat actor has drained more than $ 85 million in cryptocurrency last week from Crypto Exchange Phemex, according to several sources.
While the initial estimates of losses for the violation of January 23 were $ 29 million, at the end of the weekend, these estimates grow at just over $ 85 million.
Although an alleged threat actor was not appointed in the Hack of Phemex, there have been speculation that the sophisticated hack could be the work of the pirates of North Korea, which by an estimate represents 61% of the $ 2.2 billion in cryptographic funds stolen last year. The threats of the threat linked to North Korea would have been the source of massive attacks that the DMM violation of $ 308 million in May 2024, among other horny crypto.
Phemex provides the Crypto Hack account
Phemex published a account From the security incident on January 26, noting that after the hot attack of the portfolio, “”, we immediately took emergency measures, temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals and formulated a follow -up plan. »»
The assigned devices have been identified and isolated, and the exchange reported the incident to third -party security companies and the police.
The exchange based in Singapore said that it “has sufficient asset reserves and that user funds are always safe.” The company has published proof of reservations (POR) “to ensure total transparency of our financial situation”.
After the security updates, “our new system is now live and regularly monitored by our cybersecurity partner, with significant improvements in safety and reliability. All operations have been gradually restored and we ensure the absolute safety of user assets. … We will continue to optimize our system to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future. »»
“ Sophistication of the threat actor ”
In a January 23 job On X (formerly Twitter), the CEO of Phemex, Federico Variola, said that society slowly restored its systems due to the “sophistication of the threat actor”.
“(W) are currently testing our system carefully to withdraw withdrawals as soon as possible,” wrote Variola. “Due to the sophistication of threatening actor We cannot rush this step.
Taylor Monahan from the Crypto Metamask portfolio company said The block that robbery seemed to be carried out by “a group of threat actors who have done it several times before”.
“In this case, we see a massive quantity of distinct active ingredients exhausted simultaneously through a multitude of channels,” said Monahan. “The tokens are then immediately exchanged by the native asset, starting with the icy stablescoins, then working with value by value.”
The attack aroused interest in the “validation of transactions outside the chain”, a safety of simulation and emerging validation of the web security company, cyvers, reports Cointelegraph. Technology could prevent 99% of cryptographic hacks, says the company – including hazirx hacking $ 230 million last year.
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