North Korea Suspected Behind $200M Euler & Axie Infinity Hacks

• Euler Finance and Axie Infinity have recently been victims of a flash loan attack resulting in around $200 million and $625 million worth of digital assets stolen respectively.
• The wallets linked to the two attacks have shown interactions, leading some to suspect North Korean hackers may be involved.
• Euler Finance has offered a $1 million reward in exchange for information that leads to the attacker’s arrest and return of funds stolen.

Euler & Axie Infinity Exploited

The recent exploit of Euler Finance and last year’s breach of Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network have resulted in a combined loss of over $800 million worth of digital assets. These hacks have been linked as blockchain data shows that an address controlled by the Euler Finance hacker sent 100 Ether ($170,515) to a wallet associated with the Ronin Bridge exploiter, which is believed to be the infamous North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group.

Suspicions Of North Korean Involvement

Suspicions are being raised as to whether or not Lazarus Group is also behind the recent attack on Euler Finance, with questions arising as to whether there is some sort of affiliation between the hackers and the entity that exploited Euler Finance.

$1 Million Reward For Information

In response, Euler Finance has launched a $1 million reward in “the hope that this provides additional incentive for information that leads to the Euler protocol attacker’s arrest and the return of all funds extracted by the attacker”. If you have any information you believe will be helpful, it can be sent directly to reward@euler.foundation.

North Korea Behind Axie Infinity Hack?

The hack of Axie Infinity’s Ronin blockchain saw hackers make off with about $625 million worth of Ethereum and USDC after they managed to gain access to five out of nine private keys held by transaction validators — adding more fuel to suspicions that North Korean hackers may be involved in both attacks on both projects.

Conclusion

At this point, it remains unclear if Lazarus Group is indeed behind both attacks or if there is any association between them at all — but regardless, these events highlight just how vulnerable crypto projects remain against sophisticated cyber-attacks such as those orchestrated by state-sponsored hacking groups like those from North Korea.