WazirX Hacker Moves Millions Worth of ETH Using Tornado Cash, Suggests Arkham Research

Speaking to Gadgets360 this week, WazirX co-founder Nischal Shetty confirmed that the hacker has not yet been identified.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 3 September 2024 17:51 IST

WazirX Hacker Moves Millions Worth of ETH Using Tornado Cash, Suggests Arkham Research

Photo Credit: Pexels/ Shoma Shimazaki

Research analysts believe that Lazarus Group could be behind the WazirX hack

Highlights

WazirX has not confirmed if Lazarus Group facilitated the hack
Tornado Cash is a sanctioned platform in the US
Hacker wired ETH 100 in each transaction to Tornado Cash

WazirX hacker, who remains unidentified since the hack in July, is reportedly moving around the stolen funds. Data collected by Arkham Research showed that the hacker is using the controversial Tornado Cash platform to do so. Out of the stolen amount of over $230 million (roughly Rs. 1,900 crore), the hacker seems to have moved $6.5 million (roughly Rs. 54.5 crore) worth of Ether tokens into Tornado Cash, which is now a sanctioned platform in the US.

Tornado Cash essentially lets people deposit their crypto tokens into a pool of various crypto tokens and transfer their funds to the destination wallet in the form of other cryptocurrencies. Tornado Cash has, in recent years, emerged as a popular tool among cyber criminals who do not wish to leave any trail while transferring funds obtained through illicit activities.

The hacker facilitated 26 transactions to wire the aforementioned amount into a Tornado Cash address, the data by Arkham shows. Etherscan data further showed that the hacker moved the funds in the form of ETH 100 per transaction. Screenshots of these details have surfaced on social media.

WazirX Users Must Withdraw INR Balances: Nischal Shetty

WazirX borsasını ihlal eden bilgisayar korsanı, Tornado Cash 'e yaklaşık 6,5 milyon $ değerinde 2600 $ETH aktardı.#ETH | #kriptopara | #Ethereum pic.twitter.com/IJmPimeVsH
— KRİPTO CANLI (@kriptocanli) September 3, 2024

Speaking to Gadgets360 this week, WazirX co-founder Nischal Shetty confirmed that the hacker has not yet been identified. Research analysts have previously claimed that North Korea's infamous Lazarus Group could have executed this hack.

“Most of the research community says that the pattern matches with Lazarus group. But, you know, at the end of the day, Lazarus group is not someone who comes and owns up. So, you will never get confirmation. We've got, like, one of the best researchers in the industry, saying that the pattern exactly matches. We got some credible information that, you know, that's a possibility,” Shetty said.

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WazirX, last week, took its first step towards restructuring its finances after the hack. The exchange filed for a mortarium in a Singapore court – buying time to analyse its liabilities and reorganise its capital. It may take up to six months before WazirX may complete the process.

Meanwhile, the exchange has opened INR withdrawals, and the team is encouraging users to extract 66 percent of the INR balances that have been unfrozen for now.

The exchange said it is working with law enforcement agencies and the CERT-In to identify the hacker.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, WazirX, Tornado Cash, Hack, Lazarus Group

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More