Blockchain Bandit, a notorious hacker group, has moved $172 million worth of Ethereum coins two years after stealing the funds. The cybercriminals transferred 51,000 Ethereum from ten wallets to a single one, with each wallet approximately receiving a batch of 5,000 coins.
blockchain firm ZachXBT, which tracks cyber thefts, scams, and exploits, highlighted Bandit’s reappearance in crypto illegal activities via a Telegram post on Dec. 30. According to the blockchain sleuth, the hacker took only 24 minutes to transfer funds into a multi-signature address, which is “0xC45…1D542.” It happened between 8:54 PM UTC and 9:24 PM UTC.
Exploiting weak keys to steal 45,000 Ethereum
The hacker had not touched his Ethereum collection since Jan. 2023, when the incident occurred. Around that time, the cybercriminals also transferred 470 Bitcoins.
Blockchain Bandit became famous between 2016 and 2018 over committing a series of hacks and collecting massive ill-gains. The hacker group performed attacks by exploiting weak private keys using the “Ethercombing” technique
According to a report published by Independent Security Evaluators in April 2023, the group drained around 45,000 ETH from users by successfully guessing 732 weak private keys. Amassing these funds involved 49,060 transactions. The hacker took advantage of Ethereum’s early key generation process, which allegedly had flaws.
Though it remains unknown who is behind such a notorious group, a prominent blockchain security analyst, Adrian Banderak, suggested it is a state actor from North Korea.
Losses from crypto hacks surged 40%
As mentioned, the hacker group appears to be engaging in illicit crypto activities after nearly two years, during which crypto-related attacks have risen significantly. According to a report published by on-chain security firm Cyverse, 2024 alone has seen 165 exploits, consolidating around $2.2 billion.
Compared to 2023’s figures, this year has seen a 40% increase. Custodian platforms and centralized exchanges mostly became the target of hackers that account for $1.9 billion.
