Almost six months back, the Harmony Bridge had been victimized by Lazarus. It is a major hacking group that reportedly operates from North Korea and is responsible for carrying out most of the crypto hacks.
The group reportedly breached the security protocols of the Harmony Bridge and managed to steal a lot of funds from the platform.
As per the sources, the hackers were able to steal $100 million worth of cryptocurrencies from the Harmony Bridge protocol.
Several Attempts of Cashing Out Funds
According to the on-chain analytics firms, the hackers have attempted to move these funds and then cash them out.
The sources confirm that almost $91 million have been cashed out by the hackers that were stolen almost six months back.
The data tracking firms have shared the latest instance of funds transfers. The latest attempt that the hackers made of moving and withdrawing the funds from the total stolen funds was for $27 million.
It is to be clarified that the hackers have tried withdrawing $27 million worth of digital assets and not the actual fiat currency.
The security researchers did make their attempt of freezing the funds they had detected to be moving out. As soon as they recorded the movement, they tried making their move against the funds.
They tried seizing as many cryptocurrencies as possible but it is unclear how much they were able to freeze in the end.
Blender is Back
Several cryptocurrency exchanges that sniffed the money laundering attempt tried their best to freeze the funds and block the transactions.
However, it seems that the hackers are playing things with quite agility as they are staying one step ahead of the cyber security firms.
The sources claim that just as the exchanges were attempting to block the transactions, the hackers were supported by Blender.
It is a major mixer that is involved in the mixing of cryptocurrencies. The particular crypto mixer is involved in hiding the traces of the cryptocurrencies and it was recently sanctioned by the US regulators.
Despite the sanctions, the particular mixer has continued operating. The teams behind the development of Blender relaunched the same mixer with a new name. This time, they launched the mixer dubbed “Sinbad”.
Coordination Continues
Although the hackers stayed a step ahead, the exchanges have tried their best to freeze as many funds as possible.
Several renowned cryptocurrency exchanges tried their best to intercept crypto transactions and money laundering attempts.
The exchanges such as Binance, Huobi, and Elliptic worked together to deal with the situation. With coordinated efforts, they were able to freeze $2.5 million worth of Bitcoin, translating to 121 BTC tokens.
