As news started spreading about a massive hack on crypto exchange Bybit last Friday, cybersecurity researchers quickly concluded that the era of giant digital-asset heists had entered a new and potentially ruinous phase.
It wasn’t just the size of the exploit, although at close to $1.5 billion, it was the biggest ever by a wide margin. Within hours, it was clear that the attack — which the FBI attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group — was far more ambitious, and difficult to prevent, than any that preceded it.
Perhaps most disturbing was that the hackers managed to drain a so-called cold crypto storage wallet, a piece of hardware used to hold the private key needed to access funds. Such wallets are kept mostly isolated from online networks and so were considered to be almost impervious to attacks.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.