$140 million bounty from Bybit! Declares war on cyber criminals

Bybit Co-Founder and CEO Ben Zhou announced on his official X account that a reward will be given to those who help find the company's stolen Ethereum (ETH) assets. According to the statement made on the official website, a 5% share will be given to the person who finds any part of the funds and the organization that froze them. WHAT HAPPENED? On Friday, February 20, 2025, 401,346 ETH was stolen from an offline wallet of the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit as a result of a sophisticated cyber attack. At the time of the incident, this amount corresponded to $ 1.4 billion. This attack was recorded as the largest crypto theft in history. As a result of the studies conducted by cybersecurity experts, it was revealed that this theft was carried out by the North Korean-backed hacker group Lazarus. WHO IS LAZARUS? The Lazarus Group is a hacker group allegedly affiliated with the North Korean government. This group, which started operating in 2009, attracted attention with its cyber espionage and cyber warfare activities. Using many methods such as security vulnerabilities, phishing attacks, malware, and backdoors, Lazarus has targeted many large companies and institutions around the world to date. Lazarus came to the fore with its massive cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014. The company’s sensitive financial information, customers’ personal data, and unreleased films were seized in this attack. In 2016, the same group stole $81 million from the Bangladesh Central Bank in what is considered one of the largest bank robberies in history. A year later, it was determined that Lazarus was behind the theft of $60 million from the Far Eastern International Bank in Taiwan. ZHOU DECLARED WAR ON CYBERCRIMES Bybit CEO Zhou emphasized that they will not back down in the fight against individuals and groups involved in cybercrimes such as cryptocurrency theft. In a written statement, Zhou said, “We will not stop until Lazarus or the bad actors in the industry are eliminated,” and added that in the future, rewards may be distributed for the assets of other individuals and institutions that Lazarus has previously targeted. MORE THAN 4 MILLION DOLLARS GIVEN A REWARD According to a report by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, one of the reliable reporters in the sector, Bybit has already paid 4 million 230 thousand dollars to five bounty hunters who helped them. When a simple calculation is made, this amount means that 3% of Bybit’s stolen funds have been detected.