$400M FTX Heist Hacker Self- Obscures Amidst Bankman-Freid Fraud Trial
Summary:
As Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud trial gains widespread attention, the hacker involved in the $400 million FTX heist in November is reportedly transferring stolen funds to new wallets to hide traces. Simultaneously, the cybercriminal appears to have altered tactics for obscuring funds, now using a more complex method. Investigations to identify potential individuals or groups behind the attack are ongoing.
In November, a cyber miscreant, who managed to swindle over $400 million from FTX and FTX US, might be exploiting the media focus on Sam Bankman-Fried’s scam proceedings to further cloud the fund's trail, according to CertiK's Director of Security Operations, Hugh Brooks. Just ahead of Bankman-Fried's legal hearing, the cybercriminal identified as the "FTX Drainer," initiated relocating millions in Ether acquired from the assault in November. The fund relocating activity has been persistent ever since. Over the past three days, approximately 15,000 ETH (around $24 million) has been moved to three fresh wallet addresses by the hacker.
“The commencement of the FTX lawsuit and its considerable public spotlight and news reporting, the person draining the funds might feel the need to hide the assets urgently," Brooks stated. He added that the FTX drainer might have expected that the lawsuit would attract enough attention that there would not be enough resources to track the stolen funds while also keeping an eye on the hearing.
FTX, once valued at $32 billion, filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11. On the same day, fund withdrawals of enormous proportions from the exchange’s wallets were detected by FTX employees. An Oct. 9 report by Wired has shed new light on the events unfolding on the night of the cyberattack. The FTX staff realized that the intruder had total control over a series of wallets, triggering a crisis situation as they scrambled to secure the remaining funds from the hacker.
The team opted to move a remarkable chunk of the remaining assets — ranging between $400 and $500 million — into a privately possessed Ledger cold wallet, while awaiting response from BitGo, entrusted with the safekeeping of the exchange’s assets post-bankruptcy. This move possibly thwarted the hacker from securing a total of $1 billion in the strike.
Meanwhile, Brooks elaborated that the cybercriminal seems to have tweaked its tactic for camouflaging funds. On Nov. 21, the FTX miscreant was noticed trying to clean funds through a "peel chain" method, sending diminishing amounts of funds to new wallets and scaling down parts to fresh wallets. However, a more complex method to muddle the movement of the pilfered assets has recently been adopted by the hacker, Brooks pointed out.
A mechanism termed “peeling” involves routing smaller portions of funds to a series of additional wallets through multiple wallets from the original Bitcoin wallet, which "significantly extends" the tracing procedure. According to Brooks, no individuals or groups which could possibly be associated with the FTX breach have been identified, and investigations are still on-course.
Published At
10/10/2023 2:33:26 AM
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