The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified North Korean hackers as the perpetrators behind the recent cyberattack on Bybit, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.
According to the FBI, the hackers—linked to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)—orchestrated the theft of approximately $1.5 billion in virtual assets from the crypto platform, which serves over 50 million users globally.
The cyber attack occurred on or about February 21; the FBI identified the specific North Korean malicious activity as “TraderTraitor.”
The FBI said the actors have converted some of the stolen assets to bitcoin and other virtual assets dispersed across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains.
“It is expected these assets will be further laundered and eventually converted to fiat currency,” the public service announcement added.
The statement advised private sector entities and other virtual asset service providers to block transactions with or derived from addresses TraderTraitor are using.
The PSA further listed dozens of Ethereum addresses holding or have held assets from the theft, and are operated by or connected to the hackers.