Lazarus Group Dominates Crypto Hacks as Compromised Keys Drain Billions

The crypto industry has seen a significant increase in hacks this year, with over $1.3 billion lost through compromised keys rather than broken code.

The majority of these losses can be attributed to social engineering and session hijacking, with attackers often exploiting trust within the community rather than finding vulnerabilities in smart contracts.

Two notable incidents occurred in April, where Drift Protocol was drained of $285 million and KelpDAO lost $290 million. In both cases, the attackers compromised a single key or node, allowing them to bypass security measures.

The Lazarus Group, linked to North Korea, is suspected to be behind these attacks, with investigators tying the group to TraderTraitor, a subgroup of the group.