Atomic Wallet hacker sends crypto to mixer used by Lazarus Group: Elliptic

Illicit funds gained from the $35 million Atomic Wallet hack have been moving to a crypto mixer known to be favored by North Korea’s most notorious cyber-hacking group.

On June 5, blockchain compliance analytics firm Elliptic reported that its Investigations Team has traced funds from the $35 million Atomic Wallet hack to crypto mixer Sinbad.io.

It claims the mixing service was previously used to launder more than $100 million in crypto assets stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

Elliptic did not specify how much was sent to the mixer but noted that the loot was being swapped for Bitcoin (BTC) before being obfuscated through the mixer.

Analysis of the ongoing Atomic Wallet hack, from our new Investigations Team account @Elliptic_Inv https://t.co/gbm3dX34JB

— Elliptic (@elliptic) June 5, 2023

The firm also reported that Sinbad.io is likely to be a rebranded version of Blender.io, “another mixer heavily used to launder Lazarus Group funds,” and the first mixer to be sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Several Atomic Wallet user accounts were compromised on June 3, resulting in losses of up to $35 million. However, the firm played down the incident, claiming that the attack impacted less than 1% of its monthly active users.

Atomic Wallet’s chief marketing officer, Roland Säde, told Cointelegraph that the team is “doing everything they can to get those funds back,” adding: “In order to create a concrete plan, the investigation must be completed.”

“Of course, the team is devastated as we have been very proud about our security. We are working around the clock to get it all resolved and come out of this crisis stronger than before.”

He suggested that victims track the illicit transfers and report them to the most popular crypto exchanges, which “could prevent the scammers from exchanging their funds.”

“Of course, we are also reporting them directly, but the more eyes on hackers the harder it is for them to move them,” he said.

However, it could be too late for many in light of Elliptic’s latest findings.

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