Bybit, a major cryptocurrency exchange, has fallen victim to a sophisticated cyberattack, resulting in the theft of a staggering $1.4 billion worth of Ethereum (ETH).
According to Ben Zhou, Bybit’s CEO, the hackers breached one of the company’s offline wallets and made away with approximately 401,346 ETH. This makes it one of the largest crypto heists on record, surpassing previous major breaches like the Ronin Network and Poly Network hacks.
Industry experts, including Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson, believe this may be the largest single theft of any kind, not just in the realm of data breaches. Prior to Bybit’s misfortune, the withdrawal of about $1 billion from the Central Bank of Iraq was considered the biggest bank robbery ever.
Zhou revealed that the hackers gained control of a “cold wallet,” a type of digital storage designed to be secure and isolated from the internet. Subsequently, they transferred the stolen funds to a “warm wallet” connected to the network.
Bybit maintains that it has sufficient liquidity to cover the loss, even if the stolen funds cannot be recovered. The company’s spokesperson, Tony Au, declined to comment beyond Zhou’s public statements.
Bybit, headquartered in Dubai, UAE, had an estimated $16 billion in total assets as of last week. In the past two years alone, hackers have pilfered around $2.2 billion and $2 billion worth of cryptocurrency in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Original source: Read the full article on TechCrunch
