• Norwegian police have recovered stolen cryptocurrencies worth 60 million krone (almost $5.9 million).
• The heist involved a complex attack on the bridge between the Axie Infinity Ronin sidechain and the Ethereum mainnet.
• U.S authorities quickly connected the Ethereum wallets used in the breach to the North Korean hacker organization Lazarus.
Norway Authorities Recover $5.9M Worth Ronin Bridge Hack Funds
Norwegian police have recovered stolen cryptocurrencies worth 60 million krone (almost $5.9 million), as part of an investigation into an assault on Sky Mavis and its game Axie Infinity last year. This is one of the greatest seizures in Norwegian history and the largest ever using cryptocurrency.
Complex Attack on The Bridge
Around $622 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from the Ronin Bridge at Axie Infinity by hackers believed to have ties to North Korea about a year ago. With the help of blockchain analytics company Chainalysis, prosecutors have managed to retrieve at least 10% of that money. The heist, which occurred on March 23, 2022, involves a complex attack on the bridge between the Axie Infinity Ronin sidechain and the Ethereum mainnet requiring private keys for at least five of nine validator nodes to access funds stored in wallet.
U.S Authorities Quickly Connects To North Korea
U.S authorities quickly connected Ethereum wallets used in breach to North Korean hacker organization Lazarus but attacker didn’t spend much time with money in those wallets as all but $376 was spent passing them via services like sanctioned Tornado Cash privacy protocol April 4th same year .
Statement By First State Attorney Marianne Bender
First State Attorney Marianne Bender issued statement saying: “We are working with FBI specialists on cryptocurrency tracking, this kind of cooperation between countries makes us stronger as a society in fight against digital profit motivated crime.”
Conclusion
The Norway authorities have successfully managed to recover $5.9M worth of funds stolen from Ronin Bridge Hack by connecting it back to North Korea’s hacker organization Lazarus which also highlights importance international cooperation when it comes combatting cybercrime activities across borders