Hackers from North Korea stole almost $290 million worth of cryptocurrency from Kelp DAO over the weekend. Kelp DAO is a platform that lets users profit from idle cryptocurrency investments.
One of the initiatives impacted by the intrusion, LayerZero, accused North Korea of committing the theft by Monday. After a previous heist at cryptocurrency exchange Drift in April that gave hackers over $285 million, this hack is currently the biggest cryptocurrency theft of the year.
According to LayerZero’s post on X, the hackers took advantage of Kelp DAO through its LayerZero bridge, which enables instructions to be sent between other blockchains. The hackers then exploited Kelp’s own security setup, which allowed transactions to be approved without the need for numerous verifications. This made it possible for the hackers to use bogus transactions to siphon out the money.
The company stated “preliminary indicators” pointing to North Korea as the culprit, specifically its TraderTraitor hacking organization that targets cryptocurrency. In response, Kelp DAO accused LayerZero of stealing.
North Korean hackers employed by Kim Jong Un’s government have become extremely skilled at stealing cryptocurrency in recent years. North Korean hackers stole over $2 billion worth of cryptocurrency last year. It is estimated that North Korea has stolen about $6 billion worth of cryptocurrency since 2017.
