Investigators are tracking the stolen funds in real-time, writes Anthony Cuthbertson, with all clues leading back to the state-backed Lazarus Group

How North Korea pulled off the biggest heist in history

In a plot twist straight out of a cyberpunk novel, the notorious Lazarus Group—North Korea’s infamous hacking syndicate—has once again left the Web3 world reeling. On-chain sleuth extraordinaire ZachXBT has uncovered damning evidence linking the jaw-dropping $1.4 billion Bybit hack to ...

Lazarus Group Links $1.4B Bybit Hack to Phemex Heist in Web3 Cash Grab

Lazarus

lazarus

It's quite ironic how my reasons for signing up to write an article at Hacker Noon was to purge the frustrations caused by social networks of the day. What happens to be the first thing asked of me as a new member?  It is to edit my profile, and add my social media links: Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook etc. The Problems with Social Media It's perfectly reasonable to expect a rising network to leverage from other people's networks, politicians do it, businesses do it, we all do it. But what happens to those individuals who due to the randomness of the world we live in happen to be outside those networks. Are the networks omnipresent to the point that the real isn't as important as the perceived? Say for a multitude of reasons, someone decides to be a contrarian to a rising trend, let's suppose it's a new tech platform he or she happens to hear about called Linkedin.  Can the social & professional implications that result from such contrarian behavior just be written off as collateral damage for an otherwise well oiled social network that helps b2b advertising? The more daunting question is what happens in the future? Who can imagine a world where a child grows up and refuses to sign up for Facebook, Youtube or Linkedin? Will he or she be ostracised into conformity or is their an end in sight to this technological follower fetishism?

If a Tree Falls and it's not on Linkedin, Who Knows?

Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . Oxford—The Master and Tutor of Lazarus here Oxford—The Master and Tutor of Lazarus Mr. Arabin, as we have said, had but a sad walk of it under the trees of Plumstead churchyard. He did not appear to any of the family till dinner-time, and then he seemed, as far as their judgement went, to be quite himself. He had, as was his wont, asked himself a great many questions and given himself a great many answers; and the upshot of this was that he had sent himself down for an ass. He had determined that he was much too old and much too rusty to commence the manoeuvres of love-making; that he had let the time slip through his hands which should have been used for such purposes; and that now he must lie on his bed as he had made it. Then he asked himself whether in truth he did love this woman; and he answered himself, not without a long struggle, but at last honestly, that he certainly did love her. He then asked himself whether he did not also love her money, and he again answered himself that he did so. But here he did not answer honestly. It was and ever had been his weakness to look for impure motives for his own conduct. No doubt, circumstanced as he was, with a small living and a fellowship, accustomed as he had been to collegiate luxuries and expensive comforts, he might have hesitated to marry a penniless woman had he felt ever so strong a predilection for the woman herself; no doubt Eleanor's fortune put all such difficulties out of the question; but it was equally without doubt that his love for her had crept upon him without the slightest idea on his part that he could ever benefit his own condition by sharing her wealth. When he had stood on the hearth-rug, counting the pattern and counting also the future chances of his own life, the remembrances of Mrs. Bold's comfortable income had certainly not damped his first assured feeling of love for her. And why should it have done so? Need it have done so with the purest of men? Be that as it may, Mr. Arabin decided against himself; he decided that it had done so in his case, and that he was not the purest of men. He also decided, which was more to his purpose, that Eleanor did not care a straw for him, and that very probably she did care a straw for his rival. Then he made up his mind not to think of her any more, and went on thinking of her till he was almost in a state to drown himself in the little brook which ran at the bottom of the archdeacon's grounds. And ever and again his mind would revert to the Signora Neroni, and he would make comparisons between her and Eleanor Bold, not always in favour of the latter. The signora had listened to him, and flattered him, and believed in him; at least she had told him so. Mrs. Bold had also listened to him, but had never flattered him; had not always believed in him; and now had broken from him in violent rage. The signora, too, was the more lovely woman of the two, and had also the additional attraction of her affliction—for to him it was an attraction. But he never could have loved the Signora Neroni as he felt that he now loved Eleanor; and so he flung stones into the brook, instead of flinging in himself, and sat down on its margin as sad a gentleman as you shall meet in a summer's day. He heard the dinner-bell ring from the churchyard, and he knew that it was time to recover his self-possession. He felt that he was disgracing himself in his own eyes, that he had been idling his time and neglecting the high duties which he had taken upon himself to perform. He should have spent this afternoon among the poor at St. Ewold's, instead of wandering about at Plumstead, an ancient, love-lorn swain, dejected and sighing, full of imaginary sorrows and Wertherian grief. He was thoroughly ashamed of himself, and determined to lose no time in retrieving his character, so damaged in his own eyes. Thus when he appeared at dinner he was as animated as ever and was the author of most of the conversation which graced the archdeacon's board on that evening. Mr. Harding was ill at ease and sick at heart, and did not care to appear more comfortable than he really was; what little he did say was said to his daughter. He thought that the archdeacon and Mr. Arabin had leagued together against Eleanor's comfort, and his wish now was to break away from the pair and undergo in his Barchester lodgings whatever Fate had in store for him. He hated the name of the hospital; his attempt to regain his lost inheritance there had brought upon him so much suffering. As far as he was concerned, Mr. Quiverful was now welcome to the place. And the archdeacon was not very lively. The poor dean's illness was of course discussed in the first place. Dr. Grantly did not mention Mr. Slope's name in connexion with the expected event of Dr. Trefoil's death; he did not wish to say anything about Mr. Slope just at present, nor did he wish to make known his sad surmises; but the idea that his enemy might possibly become Dean of Barchester made him very gloomy. Should such an event take place, such a dire catastrophe come about, there would be an end to his life as far as his life was connected with the city of Barchester. He must give up all his old haunts, all his old habits, and live quietly as a retired rector at Plumstead. It had been a severe trial for him to have Dr. Proudie in the palace, but with Mr. Slope also in the deanery he felt that he should be unable to draw his breath in Barchester close. Thus it came to pass that in spite of the sorrow at his heart, Mr. Arabin was apparently the gayest of the party. Both Mr. Harding and Mrs. Grantly were in a slight degree angry with him on account of his want of gloom. To the one it appeared as though he were triumphing at Eleanor's banishment, and to the other that he was not affected as he should have been by all the sad circumstances of the day—Eleanor's obstinacy, Mr. Slope's success, and the poor dean's apoplexy. And so they were all at cross-purposes. Mr. Harding left the room almost together with the ladies, and then the archdeacon opened his heart to Mr. Arabin. He still harped upon the hospital. "What did that fellow mean," said he, "by saying in his letter to Mrs. Bold that if Mr. Harding would call on the bishop, it would be all right? Of course I would not be guided by anything he might say, but still it may be well that Mr. Harding should see the bishop. It would be foolish to let the thing slip through our fingers because Mrs. Bold is determined to make a fool of herself." Mr. Arabin hinted that he was not quite so sure that Mrs. Bold would make a fool of herself. He said that he was not convinced that she did regard Mr. Slope so warmly as she was supposed to do. The archdeacon questioned and cross-questioned him about this, but elicited nothing, and at last remained firm in his own conviction that he was destined, , to be the brother-in-law of Mr. Slope. Mr. Arabin strongly advised that Mr. Harding should take no step regarding the hospital in connexion with, or in consequence of, Mr. Slope's letter. "If the bishop really means to confer the appointment on Mr. Harding," argued Mr. Arabin, "he will take care to let him have some other intimation than a message conveyed through a letter to a lady. Were Mr. Harding to present himself at the palace, he might merely be playing Mr. Slope's game;" and thus it was settled that nothing should be done till the great Dr. Gwynne's arrival, or at any rate without that potentate's sanction. malgré lui It was droll to observe how these men talked of Mr. Harding as though he were a puppet, and planned their intrigues and small ecclesiastical manoeuvres in reference to Mr. Harding's future position without dreaming of taking him into their confidence. There was a comfortable house and income in question, and it was very desirable, and certainly very just, that Mr. Harding should have them; but that at present was not the main point; it was expedient to beat the bishop and, if possible, to smash Mr. Slope. Mr. Slope had set up, or was supposed to have set up, a rival candidate. Of all things the most desirable would have been to have had Mr. Quiverful's appointment published to the public and then annulled by the clamour of an indignant world, loud in the defence of Mr. Harding's rights. But of such an event the chance was small; a slight fraction only of the world would be indignant, and that fraction would be one not accustomed to loud speaking. And then the preferment had, in a sort of way, been offered to Mr. Harding and had, in a sort of way, been refused by him. Mr. Slope's wicked, cunning hand had been peculiarly conspicuous in the way in which this had been brought to pass, and it was the success of Mr. Slope's cunning which was so painfully grating to the feelings of the archdeacon. That which of all things he most dreaded was that he should be outgeneralled by Mr. Slope; and just at present it appeared probable that Mr. Slope would turn his flank, steal a march on him, cut off his provisions, carry his strong town by a , and at last beat him thoroughly in a regular pitched battle. The archdeacon felt that his flank had been turned when desired to wait on Mr. Slope instead of the bishop, that a march had been stolen when Mr. Harding was induced to refuse the bishop's offer, that his provisions would be cut off when Mr. Quiverful got the hospital, that Eleanor was the strong town doomed to be taken, and that Mr. Slope, as Dean of Barchester, would be regarded by all the world as conqueror in the final conflict. coup de main Dr. Gwynne was the who was to come down upon the Barchester stage and bring about deliverance from these terrible evils. But how can melodramatic be properly brought about, how can vice and Mr. Slope be punished, and virtue and the archdeacon be rewarded, while the avenging god is laid up with the gout? In the mean time evil may be triumphant, and poor innocence, transfixed to the earth by an arrow from Dr. Proudie's quiver, may lie dead upon the ground, not to be resuscitated even by Dr. Gwynne. Deus ex machina dénouements Two or three days after Eleanor's departure, Mr. Arabin went to Oxford and soon found himself closeted with the august head of his college. It was quite clear that Dr. Gwynne was not very sanguine as to the effects of his journey to Barchester, and not over-anxious to interfere with the bishop. He had had the gout, but was very nearly convalescent, and Mr. Arabin at once saw that had the mission been one of which the master thoroughly approved, he would before this have been at Plumstead. As it was, Dr. Gwynne was resolved on visiting his friend, and willingly promised to return to Barchester with Mr. Arabin. He could not bring himself to believe that there was any probability that Mr. Slope would be made Dean of Barchester. Rumour, he said, had reached even his ears, not at all favourable to that gentleman's character, and he expressed himself strongly of opinion that any such appointment was quite out of the question. At this stage of the proceedings, the master's right-hand man, Tom Staple, was called in to assist at the conference. Tom Staple was the Tutor of Lazarus and, moreover, a great man at Oxford. Though universally known by a species of nomenclature so very undignified, Tom Staple was one who maintained a high dignity in the university. He was, as it were, the leader of the Oxford tutors, a body of men who consider themselves collectively as being by very little, if at all, second in importance to the heads themselves. It is not always the case that the master, or warden, or provost, or principal can hit it off exactly with his tutor. A tutor is by no means indisposed to have a will of his own. But at Lazarus they were great friends and firm allies at the time of which we are writing. Tom Staple was a hale, strong man of about forty-five, short in stature, swarthy in face, with strong, sturdy black hair and crisp black beard of which very little was allowed to show itself in shape of whiskers. He always wore a white neckcloth, clean indeed, but not tied with that scrupulous care which now distinguishes some of our younger clergy. He was, of course, always clothed in a seemly suit of solemn black. Mr. Staple was a decent cleanly liver, not over-addicted to any sensuality; but nevertheless a somewhat warmish hue was beginning to adorn his nose, the peculiar effect, as his friends averred, of a certain pipe of port introduced into the cellars of Lazarus the very same year in which the tutor entered it as a freshman. There was also, perhaps, a little redolence of port wine, as it were the slightest possible twang, in Mr. Staple's voice. In these latter days Tom Staple was not a happy man; university reform had long been his bugbear, and now was his bane. It was not with him, as with most others, an affair of politics, respecting which, when the need existed, he could, for parties' sake or on behalf of principle, maintain a certain amount of necessary zeal; it was not with him a subject for dilettante warfare and courteous, commonplace opposition. To him it was life and death. The of the university was his only idea of life, and any reformation was as bad to him as death. He would willingly have been a martyr in the cause, had the cause admitted of martyrdom. status quo At the present day, unfortunately, public affairs will allow of no martyrs, and therefore it is that there is such a deficiency of zeal. Could gentlemen of £10,000 a year have died on their own door-steps in defence of protection, no doubt some half-dozen glorious old baronets would have so fallen, and the school of protection would at this day have been crowded with scholars. Who can fight strenuously in any combat in which there is no danger? Tom Staple would have willingly been impaled before a Committee of the House, could he by such self-sacrifice have infused his own spirit into the component members of the hebdomadal board. Tom Staple was one of those who in his heart approved of the credit system which had of old been in vogue between the students and tradesmen of the university. He knew and acknowledged to himself that it was useless in these degenerate days publicly to contend with "The Jupiter" on such a subject. "The Jupiter" had undertaken to rule the university, and Tom Staple was well aware that "The Jupiter" was too powerful for him. But in secret, and among his safe companions, he would argue that the system of credit was an ordeal good for young men to undergo. The bad men, said he, the weak and worthless, blunder into danger and burn their feet; but the good men, they who have any character, they who have that within them which can reflect credit on their alma mater, they come through scatheless. What merit will there be to a young man to get through safely, if he be guarded and protected and restrained like a schoolboy? By so doing, the period of the ordeal is only postponed, and the manhood of the man will be deferred from the age of twenty to that of twenty-four. If you bind him with leading-strings at college, he will break loose while eating for the bar in London; bind him there, and he will break loose afterwards, when he is a married man. The wild oats must be sown somewhere. 'Twas thus that Tom Staple would argue of young men, not, indeed, with much consistency, but still with some practical knowledge of the subject gathered from long experience. And now Tom Staple proffered such wisdom as he had for the assistance of Dr. Gwynne and Mr. Arabin. "Quite out of the question," said he, arguing that Mr. Slope could not possibly be made the new Dean of Barchester. "So I think," said the master. "He has no standing, and, if all I hear be true, very little character." "As to character," said Tom Staple, "I don't think much of that. They rather like loose parsons for deans; a little fast living, or a dash of infidelity, is no bad recommendation to a cathedral close. But they couldn't make Mr. Slope; the last two deans have been Cambridge men; you'll not show me an instance of their making three men running from the same university. We don't get our share and never shall, I suppose, but we must at least have one out of three." "Those sort of rules are all gone by now," said Mr. Arabin. "Everything has gone by, I believe," said Tom Staple. "The cigar has been smoked out, and we are the ashes." "Speak for yourself, Staple," said the master. "I speak for all," said the tutor stoutly. "It is coming to that, that there will be no life left anywhere in the country. No one is any longer fit to rule himself, or those belonging to him. The Government is to find us all in everything, and the press is to find the Government. Nevertheless, Mr. Slope won't be Dean of Barchester." "And who will be warden of the hospital?" said Mr. Arabin. "I hear that Mr. Quiverful is already appointed," said Tom Staple. "I think not," said the master. "And I think, moreover, that Dr. Proudie will not be so short-sighted as to run against such a rock: Mr. Slope should himself have sense enough to prevent it." "But perhaps Mr. Slope may have no objection to see his patron on a rock," said the suspicious tutor. "What could he get by that?" asked Mr. Arabin. "It is impossible to see the doubles of such a man," said Mr. Staple. "It seems quite clear that Bishop Proudie is altogether in his hands, and it is equally clear that he has been moving heaven and earth to get this Mr. Quiverful into the hospital, although he must know that such an appointment would be most damaging to the bishop. It is impossible to understand such a man, and dreadful to think," added Tom Staple, sighing deeply, "that the welfare and fortunes of good men may depend on his intrigues." Dr. Gwynne or Mr. Staple were not in the least aware, nor even was Mr. Arabin, that this Mr. Slope, of whom they were talking, had been using his utmost efforts to put their own candidate into the hospital, and that in lieu of being permanent in the palace, his own expulsion therefrom had been already decided on by the high powers of the diocese. "I'll tell you what," said the tutor, "if this Quiverful is thrust into the hospital and Dr. Trefoil does die, I should not wonder if the Government were to make Mr. Harding Dean of Barchester. They would feel bound to do something for him after all that was said when he resigned." Dr. Gwynne at the moment made no reply to this suggestion, but it did not the less impress itself on his mind. If Mr. Harding could not be warden of the hospital, why should he not be Dean of Barchester? And so the conference ended without any very fixed resolution, and Dr. Gwynne and Mr. Arabin prepared for their journey to Plumstead on the morrow. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Anthony Trollope (2002). Barchester Towers. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3409/pg3409-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

Oxford—The Master and Tutor of Lazarus

W﻿elcome back to the #POWERLEADERS series where I get to interview or profile leaders in the tech industry. Those who can't do, teach, so I get to live my love of tech through those doing, making and creating. Next up is , chief operating officer of New Cosmos USA, Inc, the parent company of . He is a well-known leader in the utility space and most recently is leading the charge on natural gas safety products. Ron Lazarus DeNova Detect With generative AI and LLL dominating tech headlines, it's still important to take a look at consumer tech that is impactful to our everyday lives. As a homeowner and parent, I discovered the company and Ron as I was learning more about smarthome safety tech. The company was recently featured as the . first natural gas alarm on the Amazon Sidewalk Let's jump in: SE: What innovations are you bringing to your industry? What sets you apart from your competitors? New Cosmos has been the world leader in gas detection and technology since 1964, introducing the first residential gas alarm in the world and selling over 70 million gas alarms worldwide. I’m proud to say we continue to lead today with our newest DeNova Detect natural gas alarm product line. Our new alarm is the only residential battery-powered wireless natural gas alarm in the U.S. It’s also the only residential natural gas alarm with zero cost of ownership after initial purchase, multi-language voice alerts, and the ability to alert at the 10% LEL threshold. In addition to being first to market, we also just announced that our DeNova Detect natural gas alarms are the first and only residential battery-powered wireless natural gas alarm to integrate with Amazon Sidewalk. RL: DeNova Detect SE: What is a recent win or announcement your company just celebrated? Why does it matter? : We’re celebrating the recent announcement of integrating our DeNova Detect life-saving natural gas alarms with Amazon Sidewalk. This never before seen integration matters because it protects people and property from the dangerous and even deadly impacts of an undetected natural gas leak with accurate, real-time alerts. RL Our alarms detect natural gas emergencies 11 minutes faster than traditional sensors, and alerts are sent in real-time across text, phone, and email. Now, multiple natural gas alarm wireless devices can be connected to each other no matter where the leak is in your house, which means your family and property are protected in ways never offered before. SE: What pain point(s) does your company solve? Natural gas alarms are now an essential part of a Smart Home. First and foremost, we are providing the first battery-powered residential gas alarm. Our thoughtful battery-powered design allows the alarms to be placed close to the ceiling where natural gas rises and accumulates, eliminating the need for an outlet and ensuring more rapid detection. Thanks to Amazon Sidewalk, the seamless connectivity across multiple alarms also ensures you are notified of a leak, no matter where it is in your home or property. This technology provides a new level of safety so families can feel protected knowing they will receive accurate, early warnings, even if away from home. RL: SE: What are your company’s industry major challenges right now? I can’t stress enough how important it is to raise awareness of the dangers of natural gas leaks and the need for industry leaders to provide a common-sense approach to natural gas safety. Another major challenge is the current lack of legislation requiring natural gas alarms. RL: At New Cosmos, we advocate for natural gas alarm legislation similar to nationwide smoke and carbon monoxide alarm laws, which keep people and property safe. I have seen news reports of communities honoring and remembering victims of natural gas explosions. Still, little has been done to move the needle on natural gas safety from a legislative standpoint. It’s time to take natural gas safety seriously to prevent tragedies like these from happening again. SE: What stories aren’t currently being told about your industry that your customers should know? Consumers need to understand that if they want a safe and smart home, they need natural gas alarms, not just carbon monoxide and smoke alarms. RL: The recent residential gas explosions due to winter weather storms are a great example. Residential gas meters were being damaged by ice and snow, which caused gas leaks and even explosions in homes. If residents had natural gas alarms in their homes, they could have been notified of a leak. Also, consumers should note that the NFPA 715 recommends the installation of natural gas alarms in every location where a gas appliance exists, including the clothes dryer, water heater, furnace, gas fireplaces, and cooking appliances. In the US, gas explosions happen every other day, so safety truly starts with your decision to be prepared and protected with a natural gas alarm. SE: How do you envision your business changing in the next 3-5 years? Everyone knows I am deeply passionate about natural gas safety. I envision a world where more people are embracing it, and I believe we are already making that happen. Thanks to the Amazon Sidewalk integration, more people are learning about natural gas safety and how to install natural gas alarms. We’ll be launching the consumer product line this year and really excited for people to have access to this smart home technology that could save their lives. In the coming years, we’ll also see an increasing number of utilities stepping up to provide natural gas alarms to their customers. Finally, as we continue raising awareness of the positive benefits of natural gas safety, more states will pass legislation requiring the installation of natural gas alarms in residential and commercial applications to protect lives. RL: SE: ﻿What changes do you think are necessary for your industry to stay competitive in current economic times? It all comes back to education. The industry must focus on educating consumers on the importance of choosing the best quality natural gas alarm that meet safety and quality standards, like the UL and ETL certification marks. There are companies out there that offer cheaper alarms, but don’t meet the standard or recommended installation locations. For gas alarms, products must meet the UL 1484 Gas Alarm Standard. Consumers should understand that since natural gas rises, having a battery-powered device (not a plug-in) is essential to place near the ceiling. The industry also needs to find solutions to increase component availability. There will be an increase in demand for natural gas alarms due to raised awareness, new legislation requiring gas alarms, and more connectivity options like Amazon Sidewalk. Component availability is essential to meet this demand and keep people safe. RL: SE: ﻿What measures has your organization taken to ensure you're driving towards the most important goals? Whenever there is a natural gas explosion, all I can think about are the lives lost, the families impacted, the communities shaken, and the significant, unexpected costs. This is all preventable if we begin to understand and prioritize natural gas safety more. As a country, we must ban together to get the word out that we already have a solution with natural gas alarms and now we need to implement it. Our current goals are to raise natural gas safety awareness and continue to provide innovative products that save lives. We are currently working with legislators and utility leaders nationwide to advocate for natural gas safety. And, of course, we are developing and launching cost-effective, long-term product solutions such as the most recent first ever gas alarm integration with Amazon Sidewalk and our upcoming ten year consumer product line that can be used by consumers, businesses, and utilities. RL:

POWER LEADER: Ron Lazarus on why natural gas alarms are the tech we should be talking about

Experts used to say in the early 2000s, after the dotcom bubble burst, that investments in internet companies were officially dead. With the sudden rise of IPOs that turned entrepreneurs into millionaires quickly, web companies seemed well on their way to fame and fortune, before the crash. In hindsight, we can look back at the experience and see that the entrepreneurial ideas were there, but the technology to complement it was not quite yet, as in a thoughtful Guardian piece in 2010. Richard Wray noted We might be facing the same pattern here with blockchain. : “Is blockchain dead?” Author Vildana Hajric starts by citing Meltem Demirors, the chief investment officer of CoinShares Group. Mirroring the technology problem of the internet bubble at the beginning of the 21st century, he proclaimed, “blockchain is dead,” but elaborated on why: Bloomberg posed the question “After two, three years of spending a lot of money on this and a lot of investment dollars going into this, I think the bigger question as an investor is: What’s the scalable revenue model and is there equity value that’s created in these businesses? And arguably the answer is: not yet.” This misses the forest for the trees. While it is true that a lot of money has been poured into blockchain, and the industry has yet to yield equity value on a scale that snags the interest of swarms of investors, that doesn’t mean it’s dead. Like the dotcom bubble that saw the absence of technological means to manifest the concepts entrepreneurs had developed, blockchain is still in its infancy and its ability to enlighten is still very much alive. To be clear, blockchain is not the ultimate solution to every inventory and ledger problem in existence. When the blockchain craze hit full stride over the past two years, the technology was adopted by several companies whose problems could not necessarily be solved through blockchain solutions. But the value is definitely there－just not for every application. Businesses should bear in mind the numerous challenges involved with the adoption of blockchain, especially the technological crimps. For example, in comparison to databases, blockchain transactions can be much slower; test requirements for system function are rather large; and the immutable nature of the blockchain means there is no path to reverting back to older versions. Additionally, for permissionless systems, the public and distributable nature requires incentives for operators to run and upgrade code, while also ensuring that the mechanism for consensus isn’t in the power of a select few. What this equates to is that businesses who want to take on blockchain technology must account for these challenges, and for blockchain proprietary companies, there must be a strong ROI or a greater solution to existing problems in order to encourage more widespread investment and adoption. There are far too many blockchain and crypto projects that don’t provide good ROI and an urgent need, like those which Hajric describes, and the like. These kinds of companies might see initial value in the blockchain adoption craze, but don’t truly have a strong enough goal for adoption. Similarly to what happened with the “internet of things”－which also was proclaimed to be “dead”－just because something can be connected, doesn’t mean it creates enough value to warrant doing so. But unlike the dotcom burst, blockchain technology is ready, but the ideas are not. Investors and industry leaders should also understand this. Creating enormous value with blockchain projects is what is essential to creating a resurgence. The first half of achieving this is through practical, high-value applications on both micro and macro scales that can streamline processes that might otherwise become chaotic or costly. They can also build transparency in situations where the public has felt left in the dark by the largest of institutions. Shipping is one place where blockchain adoption would be of high value. Currently, tracking shipping is rather easy, but finding problems that cause delays is not. $1.2 billion in revenue was lost on 46.9 million orders that were delayed, caused by processing procedures that take up valuable time. A 2017 study found On blockchain, retailers, forwarders, and customers could keep track of the steps in the shipping process with full transparency and the cost of shipping could be reduced to all market participants with blockchain cutting out costly intermediary agents. Additionally, smart contracts, like those used on the Ethereum blockchain, could ensure secured and guaranteed payments to those involved in the shipping process. Real estate is another terrific example of how it can be applied. the problem of inefficient and corrupt land registries in the case of Haiti, where, after a major earthquake, land plot ownership was difficult to identify, severely impeding the recovery process. Oprunenco and Akmeemana highlight In countries with documented deep corruption and/or massive population centers, real estate property rights can benefit from an immutable, transparent history of transactions, because blockchain node history cannot be altered. In turn, such a change would create trust in the authenticity of property ownership without the ability to tamper. Beyond the micro applicability, it’s also important to understand the deeper underlying reasons for the creation of blockchain, which is to build corruption-free public and private institutions. Blockchain is able to combat the lack of transparency, interference, and self-interested motives that legacy institutions were accused of in the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis. With blockchain, entire financial infrastructures could be improved upon both locally and globally. First, on the matter of transparency, transactions undertaken by legacy institutions can be viewed rather easily by the public. So, for example, officials can be empowered to monitor and regulate finance with greater scrutiny. Outside of domestic financial regulation, financial institutions could simplify cross-border transactions and exchanges in a cost effective manner, because of blockchain’s borderless nature. Smart contracts, like those utilized on Ethereum’s blockchain, could help enforce payment between two parties who live in countries that do not have legal agreements. There are many applications for blockchain, but it must be remembered that in the early stages of disruptive technology adoption, it is the most valuable and game-changing ideas that are worth the investment. Just because the hype was there, doesn’t mean that the technology could be unanimously adopted by any company. For the successful resurgence of blockchain and a future where it will disrupt the world of databases, the applications must be right. Investors take note: blockchain is not dead. About Ciarán Hynes Ciarán Hynes is co-founder and Managing Partner at COSIMO Ventures, a deep technology firm specializing in Blockchain. He is also a serial entrepreneur, investor and Board Director with companies including Gecko Governance, Locatible, Nova Leah and Oneiro. He has helped navigate and develop their U.S. infrastructure and expand into the U.S. market. He has over ten years of deep tech market experience and  leverages his extensive network of investors, advisors, government agencies and business leaders throughout the U.S. to bring strategic benefits to these organizations. He has won international awards and has spoken at many prestigious international conferences and events.

The Tech Lazarus: Why Blockchain Never Died 

MEV Bots: What Do We Know About Them and How Can We Defend Ourselves?

روبوتات MEV: ماذا نعرف عنها وكيف يمكننا الدفاع عن أنفسنا؟

ERROR: invalid target_lang (ay)

MEV robotları: Biz onlar haqqında nə bilirik və necə savab edəcəyik?

MEV-bots: Hvad ved vi om dem, og hvordan kan vi forsvare os selv?

Bots MEV: ¿Qué sabemos sobre ellos y cómo podemos defendernos?

ERROR: invalid target_lang (eu)

MEV roboti: Što znamo o njima i kako se možemo obraniti?

MEV ボット: 私たちは MEV ボットについて何を知っていて、どのように身を守ることができるのでしょうか?

MEV-bots: Vad vet vi om dem och hur kan vi försvara oss?

MEV Bots: สิ่งที่เรารู้เกี่ยวกับพวกเขาและเราสามารถปกป้องตัวเองได้อย่างไร

ERROR: invalid target_lang (tk)

I-MEV Bots: Yini Esiyaziyo Ngabo Futhi Singazivikela Kanjani?

Can a Decentralized Internet Make Free Speech and Global Access a Reality?

This past month, hackers stole a staggering $1.5 billion from the crypto exchange Bybit in what the market dubbed “The biggest digital heist ever”. Unsurprisingly, the sheer scale of the attack has led many to once again question the safety of crypto, with critics pointing fingers at the industry’s security vulnerabilities. But here’s the twist: the wallets did their job. The problem wasn’t a failure of the underlying technology - it was a failure of ‘human’ security. This past month, hackers stole a staggering $1.5 billion from the crypto exchange Bybit in what the market dubbed “The biggest digital heist ever”. Unsurprisingly, the sheer scale of the attack has led many to once again question the safety of crypto, with critics pointing fingers at the industry’s security vulnerabilities. But here’s the twist: the wallets did their job. The problem wasn’t a failure of the underlying technology - it was a failure of ‘human’ security. What exactly went wrong? What exactly went wrong? The bottom line is that the Bybit hack wasn’t a failure of blockchain security - the attackers didn’t crack an impenetrable system; they manipulated people… In very simple terms, the attack occurred when the company was making a routine transfer of Ethereum from an offline ‘cold’ wallet (a highly secure, offline storage solution designed to protect assets from cyber threats by keeping private keys completely disconnected from the internet) to a ‘warm’ wallet (a semi-online wallet used for operational liquidity, allowing faster access to funds while maintaining some security measures) for daily trading activities. The hackers gained access to the software account that helps Bybit control these transfers by compromising a developer’s machine. They remotely modified the user interface, injecting malicious code that manipulated the wallet’s transaction approval process. Employees who usually sign off these transfers saw what looked like legitimate transactions, but behind the scenes, the attackers rewrote the rules, diverting funds straight into hacker controlled accounts. To make matters worse, the attack leveraged ‘blind signing’. When approving the transactions, employees were effectively signing off on something they couldn’t fully see on their screen. The attackers manipulated this process so effectively that employees believed they were approving routine transfers. The combination of UI manipulation and blind signing created a near-perfect deception. Importantly, however, it wasn’t crypto’s technology that failed. It was a case of catastrophic human error. Can the funds be recovered? Can the funds be recovered? The hack has been attributed to North Korean state-sponsored hacking group the Lazarus Group who has a history of targeting crypto exchanges to fund North Korea's economy and sanctioned programs. Working against this group is the traceability of blockchain. With all eyes on the stolen funds and every blockchain transaction publicly visible, being able to bank the money will be as difficult as stealing it in the first place (although some funds have also been converted into privacy-focused coins like Monero, which are much harder  to track). Importantly, Bybit acted swiftly to reassure customers and worked quickly to secure emergency funding to restore liquidity. They’ve also launched a comprehensive bounty program offering 5% rewards to individuals or firms that help identify and freeze these stolen funds. A real-time leaderboard has been set up to track progress, turning crypto sleuths into heroes! Preventing future attacks Preventing future attacks If there’s one takeaway from this attack, it’s that the industry needs stronger protections against cyber crime - including human-targeted cyber crime.. Exchanges need to go beyond traditional security - The danger of ‘blind signing’ has been made clear and needs to be phased out in favor of clear transaction signing so users can actually see what they’re approving. In addition, multi-factor authentication for this type of signing could be enabled if exchanges opt to use multi-party computation wallets which have started to gain favour in many circles over seed phrases, making key compromises far more difficult. MPC wallets distribute private key ‘fragments’ among multiple parties, reducing the risk of a single point of failure. Unlike traditional seed phrases, MPC eliminates the risk of a single exposed key leading to complete account compromise. Employees need better training - Cyberattack drills should be routine and phishing awareness training should be ongoing. Attackers are getting smarter and exchanges need to ensure their teams can recognise a red flag before it’s too late. Employees need better training Real-time monitoring needs to be the standard - AI-driven security systems can flag unusual transaction patterns instantly, triggering immediate reviews and helping prevent unauthorised withdrawals. Real-time monitoring needs to be the standard The bigger picture The bigger picture This hack didn’t expose flaws in blockchain itself - but it did expose the risks of human error and deception. That distinction, however, didn’t make much difference to the general public. The damage was done, and confidence in crypto security took yet another hit.Hackers will keep coming…The real question is whether the crypto industry will learn from Bybit and act now to prevent the next attack? If they don’t, it’s only a matter of time before another billion-dollar breach shakes the market all over again.

Bybit’s $1.5 Billion Hack Proves Crypto’s Biggest Flaw Isn’t the Blockchain

Cybersecurity in FinTech Applications: Protecting Financial Data and Preventing Fraud

I know everyone is talking about the ByBit attack, and this is probably the hundredth article you've read on the topic, but I still think it's worth sharing a few thoughts on it. What Happened? In short, the North Korean Lazarus Group managed to steal $1.5 billion from ByBit's cold wallet. The cold wallet was a Safe multisig wallet, and the transaction was signed by all authorized parties since, from the user interface, it appeared to be a completely valid transaction. It later turned out that the Safe UI had been compromised. The attackers obtained AWS S3 credentials from a developer’s machine, which allowed them to modify the UI. That’s the story in a nutshell. I don’t think pointing fingers or assigning blame is particularly useful. Instead, it makes much more sense to focus on the key takeaways and how this technology can be even more secure. I understand hindsight is always 20/20, and I’m not claiming I would have done any better. The Safe team does excellent work, and everything I’ll discuss here concerns components outside of Safe itself (the smart contract-based multisig wallet). I tweeted my thoughts after the incident. In this article, I’d like to elaborate on them in more detail. https://x.com/TheBojda/status/1893578693232021613?embedable=true Modules and Guards One of the best features of a Safe wallet is that its capabilities can be extended using modules and guards. Modules add new functionalities to the wallet, while guards perform checks before a transaction is executed. These features make the wallet highly customizable and significantly enhance its security. For example, it’s possible to restrict the wallet to only allow ERC-20 transactions (in this case, the malicious transaction was executed via a delegatecall). It’s also easy to implement a rule requiring additional signatures for transactions above a certain threshold—similar to how banks allow users to set limits for high-value transactions. Even the proper use of just this one feature could prevent many attacks or at least minimize potential losses. Immutable UI Every system is only as strong as its weakest component. In this case, the weakest link wasn’t the developer whose S3 credentials were stolen—it was something much deeper. No matter how secure Web3 technology is (blockchain and smart contracts), if the Web2-based UI is vulnerable, the entire system remains at risk. The obvious solution is to use an immutable Web3 UI. Technologies like IPFS, Ethereum Swarm, or other Web3 storage solutions can provide this. The simplest implementation is to store the UI content hash as a constant variable in the smart contract, ensuring that any UI change requires modifying the smart contract itself. This approach fully binds the UI to the smart contract, making it impossible to alter the interface without first hacking the contract itself. With this simple solution, UI-based attacks can be effectively prevented. Separate Device Even if the smart contract is secure and the UI is immutable, the system remains vulnerable if the signers’ devices can be compromised. If an attacker gains access to a signer’s device, they can still replace the UI on the client side. For this reason, anyone holding large amounts in a cold wallet should use a dedicated device—for example, an iPad—exclusively for signing transactions. This device should serve only this purpose: no other applications installed, no email or web browsing, only the necessary environment for signing transactions. If someone is managing billions of dollars, spending a few hundred dollars on a dedicated signing device is hardly a significant expense. External Transaction Auditing Oracle An external auditor can be added to the wallet as an additional signer, a module, or a guard to review transactions and block them if they appear suspicious. Detecting such suspicious transactions can be done using relatively simple patterns—for example, moving an unusually large amount of funds or executing a delegatecall. In case of a suspicious transaction, the external auditing system can notify the signers, prompting them to manually review the transaction. If they still deem it legitimate, they can re-sign it as a confirmation, adding an extra layer of security. Conclusion There is no such thing as an unbreakable system, but the simple solutions outlined above can make an attack significantly more difficult. If someone is managing billions of dollars, it’s well worth investing some time and effort into implementing these straightforward security measures. I cannot emphasize enough that all these solutions build upon Safe’s brilliant architecture, and features like modules and guards. As the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And today, Safe is stronger than ever! I know everyone is talking about the ByBit attack, and this is probably the hundredth article you've read on the topic, but I still think it's worth sharing a few thoughts on it. What Happened? In short, the North Korean Lazarus Group managed to steal $1.5 billion from ByBit's cold wallet. The cold wallet was a Safe multisig wallet , and the transaction was signed by all authorized parties since, from the user interface, it appeared to be a completely valid transaction. Safe multisig wallet It later turned out that the Safe UI had been compromised. The attackers obtained AWS S3 credentials from a developer’s machine, which allowed them to modify the UI. That’s the story in a nutshell. I don’t think pointing fingers or assigning blame is particularly useful. Instead, it makes much more sense to focus on the key takeaways and how this technology can be even more secure. I understand hindsight is always 20/20, and I’m not claiming I would have done any better. The Safe team does excellent work, and everything I’ll discuss here concerns components outside of Safe itself (the smart contract-based multisig wallet). I tweeted my thoughts after the incident. In this article, I’d like to elaborate on them in more detail. https://x.com/TheBojda/status/1893578693232021613?embedable=true https://x.com/TheBojda/status/1893578693232021613?embedable=true Modules and Guards One of the best features of a Safe wallet is that its capabilities can be extended using modules and guards . Modules add new functionalities to the wallet, while guards perform checks before a transaction is executed. These features make the wallet highly customizable and significantly enhance its security. modules guards For example, it’s possible to restrict the wallet to only allow ERC-20 transactions (in this case, the malicious transaction was executed via a delegatecall ). It’s also easy to implement a rule requiring additional signatures for transactions above a certain threshold—similar to how banks allow users to set limits for high-value transactions. delegatecall Even the proper use of just this one feature could prevent many attacks or at least minimize potential losses. Immutable UI Every system is only as strong as its weakest component. In this case, the weakest link wasn’t the developer whose S3 credentials were stolen—it was something much deeper. No matter how secure Web3 technology is (blockchain and smart contracts), if the Web2-based UI is vulnerable, the entire system remains at risk. The obvious solution is to use an immutable Web3 UI. Technologies like IPFS, Ethereum Swarm, or other Web3 storage solutions can provide this. The simplest implementation is to store the UI content hash as a constant variable in the smart contract, ensuring that any UI change requires modifying the smart contract itself. This approach fully binds the UI to the smart contract, making it impossible to alter the interface without first hacking the contract itself. With this simple solution, UI-based attacks can be effectively prevented. Separate Device Even if the smart contract is secure and the UI is immutable, the system remains vulnerable if the signers’ devices can be compromised. If an attacker gains access to a signer’s device, they can still replace the UI on the client side. For this reason, anyone holding large amounts in a cold wallet should use a dedicated device—for example, an iPad—exclusively for signing transactions. This device should serve only this purpose: no other applications installed, no email or web browsing, only the necessary environment for signing transactions. If someone is managing billions of dollars, spending a few hundred dollars on a dedicated signing device is hardly a significant expense. External Transaction Auditing Oracle An external auditor can be added to the wallet as an additional signer, a module, or a guard to review transactions and block them if they appear suspicious. Detecting such suspicious transactions can be done using relatively simple patterns—for example, moving an unusually large amount of funds or executing a delegatecall. In case of a suspicious transaction, the external auditing system can notify the signers, prompting them to manually review the transaction. If they still deem it legitimate, they can re-sign it as a confirmation, adding an extra layer of security. Conclusion There is no such thing as an unbreakable system, but the simple solutions outlined above can make an attack significantly more difficult. If someone is managing billions of dollars, it’s well worth investing some time and effort into implementing these straightforward security measures. I cannot emphasize enough that all these solutions build upon Safe’s brilliant architecture, and features like modules and guards. As the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And today, Safe is stronger than ever! what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Safe is stronger than ever!

Could the ByBit Hack Have Been Prevented? Yes—Here’s How

هل كان بإمكان شركة ByBit منع الاختراق؟ نعم، إليك الطريقة

¿Podría ByBit haber evitado el ataque? Sí, aquí te contamos cómo

آیا ByBit می تواند از هک جلوگیری کند؟ بله - در اینجا چگونه است

Olisiko ByBit voinut estää hakkeroinnin? Kyllä – näin

האם ByBit יכול היה למנוע את הפריצה? כן - הנה איך

ByBit はハッキングを阻止できたのか？その方法とは？

ByBit бұзудың алдын ала алды ма? Иә — Міне, осылай

Vai ByBit varēja novērst uzlaušanu? Jā — lūk, kā

ByBit හට හැක් කිරීම වළක්වා ගත හැකිද? ඔව්—මෙන්න කොහොමද?

Kan ByBit ha förhindrat hacket? Ja – så här

Чи міг ByBit запобігти злому? Так, ось як

Ngaba i-ByBit iluthintele uHack? Ewe-Nantsi Njani

On Friday, February 21, 2025, nearly $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum was stolen from Bybit, a Dubai-based crypto exchange. The Bybit hack represents the biggest crypto hack of all time, exceeding the over $600 million stolen from Poly Network in 2021. It also represents the biggest theft of any type in the world, with the record previously held by Saddam Hussein, who reportedly stole around $1 billion from the Central Bank of Iraq on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) on March 20, 2003. Details Of The Hack According to a February 21, 2025 post by Biybt, the exchange reported that it had detected suspicious activity relating to one of its Ethereum (ETH) cold wallets. The incident involved the execution of a transaction from a cold wallet to a warm wallet. As a result, the hacker withdrew funds from the cold wallet to an unidentified address. The exchange said its security team was working with blockchain forensic experts to investigate the incident. They also called on assistance from any experts and teams that could assist with the tracking of the assets. Bybit stated that all other cold wallets were secure, and client funds were safe. For this attack, a social engineering approach was used with transaction substitution. As a result, when an employee was sending funds, they did not realize that the transaction was going to another wallet address. The Lazarus Group Connection Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic stated that the attack was likely carried out by the Lazarus Group, a state-sponsored hacking group based in North Korea. Since 2017, North Korean-linked hackers have stolen over $6 billion in crypto, with proceeds reportedly going to the country’s ballistic missile testing program. The group not only hacks and steals crypto assets, but it also has complex mechanisms for laundering funds. Some of the pointers that it is the Lazarus Group include the theft of Ethereum. The group typically steals tokens from native blockchains since other types of tokens often have a safety mechanism that allows the funds to be frozen in the stolen wallets. During the attack, hundreds of millions of dollars of stETH and cmETH were converted to Ether. The group used several decentralized exchanges since centralized exchanges are more likely to be locked. The second step they use is layering, where the funds are sent to thousands of wallets, moving funds to other exchanges via cross-chain bridges, switching between crypto assets, using mixers, and other techniques. Within two hours of the theft, the funds were split into 50 wallet addresses, with each wallet holding around 10,000 ETH. How Exchanges Reacted Within hours of the hack, the funds were being moved to decentralized exchanges, cross-chain bridges, and centralized exchanges. According to the Elliptical report, the hackers favored the xXch service, as it is known to allow users to swap digital assets anonymously. As of Monday, February 24, 2025, over $75 million worth of funds had been laundered through eXch, with the platform refusing to assist Bybit in recovering the funds. Thus far, most other mainstream exchanges are working with Bybit to ensure that if the funds land in their system, they will be immediately frozen. Even decentralized exchanges are working with Bybit. For instance, the Chainflip decentralized exchange announced that it had upgraded its code to block all funds from the hack. Chainflip decided to upgrade its code after it detected part of the stolen funds being exchanged for USDC via its platform. Bybit has offered a 10% bounty for the recovery of the funds. However, there is little to no hope of recovering those funds. The Lazarus Group is notorious for not returning funds once they take control of them. For instance, after stealing $600 from Axie Infinity, authorities were only able to recover $30 million. Bybit Recovers From The Attack Following the attack, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou posted on X that they had fully recovered from the attack. The CEO stated that the exchange had fully replenished its ETH wallets after it secured around 447K in emergency funding from firms like FalconX, Galaxy Digital, and Wintermute. According to an audit report by Hacken, Bybit was able to fully restore reserves, and all major assets exceeded 100% collateralization. The Aftermath One of the positive outcomes of the Bybit attack was that there was no bank run on the exchange. This is partly because Bybit is a major exchange, renowned for its robust security system, and responsiveness to customer issues. However, there were still some sporadic withdrawals by cautious crypto investors. Initially, social media users were quick to attack Bybit, accusing it of being negligent, particularly due to the lack of standard on-chain monitoring, and the blind signing of transactions. However, this initial assessment was not fair since Bybit is not a basement operation; it is one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world. As such, this points to a wider problem within the crypto sector, where attackers view it as a prime target for quick gains. Coupled with the fact that the hackers are state-backed, it makes it even harder to deal with such attacks. The attack highlights the need for better security systems on crypto exchanges, especially in terms of how crypto assets are stored. In addition to technical issues, there are also a large number of legal questions. How is it that stolen funds move freely between exchanges, protocols, and wallets? On Friday, February 21, 2025, nearly $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum was stolen from Bybit, a Dubai-based crypto exchange. The Bybit hack represents the biggest crypto hack of all time, exceeding the over $600 million stolen from Poly Network in 2021. It also represents the biggest theft of any type in the world, with the record previously held by Saddam Hussein, who reportedly stole around $1 billion from the Central Bank of Iraq on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) on March 20, 2003. Details Of The Hack According to a February 21, 2025 post by Biybt, the exchange reported that it had detected suspicious activity relating to one of its Ethereum (ETH) cold wallets. The incident involved the execution of a transaction from a cold wallet to a warm wallet. As a result, the hacker withdrew funds from the cold wallet to an unidentified address. post post The exchange said its security team was working with blockchain forensic experts to investigate the incident. They also called on assistance from any experts and teams that could assist with the tracking of the assets. Bybit stated that all other cold wallets were secure, and client funds were safe. For this attack, a social engineering approach was used with transaction substitution. As a result, when an employee was sending funds, they did not realize that the transaction was going to another wallet address. The Lazarus Group Connection Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic stated that the attack was likely carried out by the Lazarus Group, a state-sponsored hacking group based in North Korea. Since 2017, North Korean-linked hackers have stolen over $6 billion in crypto, with proceeds reportedly going to the country’s ballistic missile testing program. The group not only hacks and steals crypto assets, but it also has complex mechanisms for laundering funds. stated stated Some of the pointers that it is the Lazarus Group include the theft of Ethereum. The group typically steals tokens from native blockchains since other types of tokens often have a safety mechanism that allows the funds to be frozen in the stolen wallets. During the attack, hundreds of millions of dollars of stETH and cmETH were converted to Ether. The group used several decentralized exchanges since centralized exchanges are more likely to be locked. The second step they use is layering, where the funds are sent to thousands of wallets, moving funds to other exchanges via cross-chain bridges, switching between crypto assets, using mixers, and other techniques. Within two hours of the theft, the funds were split into 50 wallet addresses, with each wallet holding around 10,000 ETH. How Exchanges Reacted Within hours of the hack, the funds were being moved to decentralized exchanges, cross-chain bridges, and centralized exchanges. According to the Elliptical report, the hackers favored the xXch service, as it is known to allow users to swap digital assets anonymously. As of Monday, February 24, 2025, over $75 million worth of funds had been laundered through eXch, with the platform refusing to assist Bybit in recovering the funds. Thus far, most other mainstream exchanges are working with Bybit to ensure that if the funds land in their system, they will be immediately frozen. Even decentralized exchanges are working with Bybit. For instance, the Chainflip decentralized exchange announced that it had upgraded its code to block all funds from the hack. Chainflip decided to upgrade its code after it detected part of the stolen funds being exchanged for USDC via its platform. announced announced Bybit has offered a 10% bounty for the recovery of the funds. However, there is little to no hope of recovering those funds. The Lazarus Group is notorious for not returning funds once they take control of them. For instance, after stealing $600 from Axie Infinity, authorities were only able to recover $30 million. Bybit Recovers From The Attack Following the attack, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou posted on X that they had fully recovered from the attack. The CEO stated that the exchange had fully replenished its ETH wallets after it secured around 447K in emergency funding from firms like FalconX, Galaxy Digital, and Wintermute. According to an audit report by Hacken, Bybit was able to fully restore reserves, and all major assets exceeded 100% collateralization. posted posted report report The Aftermath One of the positive outcomes of the Bybit attack was that there was no bank run on the exchange. This is partly because Bybit is a major exchange, renowned for its robust security system, and responsiveness to customer issues. However, there were still some sporadic withdrawals by cautious crypto investors. Initially, social media users were quick to attack Bybit, accusing it of being negligent, particularly due to the lack of standard on-chain monitoring, and the blind signing of transactions. However, this initial assessment was not fair since Bybit is not a basement operation; it is one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world. As such, this points to a wider problem within the crypto sector, where attackers view it as a prime target for quick gains. Coupled with the fact that the hackers are state-backed, it makes it even harder to deal with such attacks. The attack highlights the need for better security systems on crypto exchanges, especially in terms of how crypto assets are stored. In addition to technical issues, there are also a large number of legal questions. How is it that stolen funds move freely between exchanges, protocols, and wallets?

A Deep Dive into The Bybit Hack

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