The crypto hack, in which the gaming platform Axie Infinity lost US$620 million worth of crypto, began with a fake job interview that one of the game’s developers engaged.<\/p>\n
The attack took place in March and in April the FBI linked the attack to the Lazarus and APT38 hackers, both of whom are linked to the North Korean government.<\/p>\n
According to sources familiar with the investigation, the attackers contacted Sky Mavis (the company behind the Axie Infinity game) staff via LinkedIn with the bogus intention of hiring them.<\/p>\n
One of the senior developers of Axie showed interest in the job offer and received a PDF file pretending to be details of the job offer. The malicious document gave the attackers access into the Ronin systems.<\/p>\n
The Ronin system is the Ethereum-linked sidechain that supports the Axie Infinity non-fungible token-based online video game.<\/p>\n
The employee downloaded and opened the file on the company’s computer, triggering a chain of infection that allowed the hackers to break into Ronin’s systems and corrupt four token validators and an Axie Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) validator.<\/p>\n
The employee has been relieved of his position while the gaming platform works tirelessly to rebuild and refund players affected by the hack.<\/p>\n