North Korea’s Lazarus Group Reportedly Linked to Atomic Wallet Exploit

• Elliptic did not reveal the amount delivered to the mixer by the hacker.
• Bitcoin was being exchanged for the stolen funds before they were muddled.

North Korea’s most renowned cyber-hacking organization has been linked to a cryptocurrency mixer where illicit proceeds from the $35 million Atomic Wallet attack have been circulating. Elliptic, a provider of blockchain compliance analytics, said on June 5 that its Investigations Team has linked crypto mixer Sinbad.io to the theft of $35 million from the Atomic Wallet.

According to the report, the Lazarus Group in North Korea utilized the mixing service to siphon over $100 million in stolen cryptocurrencies. While Elliptic would not reveal the amount delivered to the mixer, they did say that Bitcoin was being exchanged for the stolen funds before they were muddled.

Too Late for Recovery

According to the same source, Blender.io, “another mixer heavily used to launder Lazarus Group funds,” and the first mixer to be sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department, is believed to be the basis for Sinbad.io.

On June 3, hackers gained access to a number of accounts belonging to users of the Atomic Wallet, resulting in losses of up to $35 million. However, the company downplayed the issue, saying that the assault only affected a fraction of one percent of its monthly active customers.

The team is “doing everything they can to get those funds back,” Roland Säde, chief marketing officer of Atomic Wallet, said. He recommended that victims monitor the suspicious transactions and alert the crypto platform, which “could prevent the scammers from exchanging their funds.”

Moreover, the more people looking for hackers, the tougher it is for them to switch targets, he added. But this new research from Elliptic suggests it may be too late for many people.

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