The Lazarus Heist: A Peek Inside North Korea’s Global Cyber War

The Lazarus Heist: A Peek Inside North Korea's Global Cyber War

In this episode of Public Key, our host, Ian Andrews (CMO at Chainalysis) along with International Investigative Journalist and Author, Geoff White who has just finished his book, The Lazarus Heist, brings the chapters to life discussing the Sony Productions sabotage, the biggest DeFi hack to date on Ronin Bridge Exchange and the cyber warfare on cryptocurrency exchanges and traditional financial institutions alike. Only Geoff could dive deep into the complexities and showmanship of the most well known, state sponsored criminal hacker group in the world.  The Lazarus Group and capture such riveting details. 

Quote of the episode

“It seems like a volume of  hundred dollar bills that were counterfeit, over a long period of time, were originating out of North Korea. Like they were just printing their own US currency..- Ian Andrews (Chief Marketing Officer, Chainalysis) 

Minute-by-minute episode breakdown

• (1:19) – The origin story of Geoff White and using bitcoin to buy drugs on silk road  
• (5:45)  – How the Lazarus Group Hackers crippled Sony Production Studios 
• (10:01) – How crippling sanctions has led North Korea to turn to illicit activity to fund their economy
• (12:45) – The Superdollar and North Korea’s counterfeit USA hundred dollar bill operation
• (16:27) – Why Lazarus Group was unable to complete a billion dollar heist
• (18:05) – Explanation of the Axie Infinity Ronin Bridge Hack of $600 Million
• (21:20) – How do get better reporting and intel regarding ransomware and cyber attacks
• (23:00) – Is North Korea using dormant cryptocurrency addresses with stolen funds as an off-shore credit line?
• (27:32) - The nuances of the hack of The Cosmos Bank in India using International accomplices found on the Dark Web

Related resources

Check out more resources provided by Chainalysis that perfectly complement this episode of the Public Key.

• Video: Chainalysis Links New York 2022 (Video Replays) 
• Book: The Lazarus Heist: From Hollywood to High Finance: Inside North Korea's Global Cyber War
• Podcast: The Lazarus Heist on BBC News World Service
• Blog: Lazarus Group Pulled Off 2020’s Biggest Exchange Hack and Appears to be Exploring New Money Laundering Options
• Blog: North Korean Hackers Have Prolific Year as Their Unlaundered Cryptocurrency Holdings Reach All-time High
• Report: The Chainalysis 2022 Crypto Crime Report

Speakers on today’s episode

• Ian Andrews * Host * (Chief Marketing Officer, Chainalysis) https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianhandrews
• Geoff White (Author, The Lazarus Heist: From Hollywood to High Finance: Inside North Korea's Global Cyber War) https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffwhite247

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