KeyTakeaways:
Suji Yan’s wallet hacked for over $4M in Ethereum and MASK tokens after birthday gathering. Hacker seized Ethereum-based assets; link to Lazarus Group’s recent $1.45B theft suspected. Mask Network unaffected by the hack, with security and MASK token value remaining stable.
Suji Yan, the CEO of Mask Network, revealed that his public wallet was hacked, resulting in more than $4 million in cryptocurrency theft. The attack took place on February 27, just hours after Yan’s 29th birthday celebration, raising questions about the security of his wallet during the event.
The hack lasted approximately 11 minutes, and the attacker drained funds from Yan’s wallet, which was labeled Sujiyan.eth, or kmt.eth. Yan suspects the breach occurred while briefly leaving his phone unattended at a private gathering. He had placed his phone aside for a few minutes while attending to personal matters. Despite trusting those around him, Yan called the incident a “nightmare.”
Yan confirmed that the wallet was compromised through a possible manual attack. The hacker only accessed the largest balances within his wallet, which is mainly based on the Ethereum network. Notably, the wallet was not emptied, a key indicator that the attacker had short-term access to the wallet and acted quickly.
The stolen assets included significant amounts of Ethereum-based tokens. The hacker seized 113 ETH, 156 weETH, and 953 WETH, with the total loss estimated at over $4 million. Additionally, 48,400 MASK tokens, valued at over $100,000, were stolen. Yan’s wallet had assets spread across multiple chains, but the attacker focused solely on Ethereum-based holdings. The hacker then split the stolen assets into multiple wallets, continuing the trend of strategic asset dispersion.
Source: Nansen
Possible Link to Lazarus Group’s Recent Theft
This theft follows a major crypto attack linked to the Lazarus Group, a North Korean cybercrime syndicate. The group allegedly stole $1.45 billion in Ethereum earlier this month, raising serious concerns about crypto industry security. Yan’s attack shares similarities with the Lazarus Group’s methods, particularly the tactic of swapping assets into Ethereum and then distributing them across multiple wallets.
Read Also: FBI Officially Confirms Lazarus Group was Responsible for Bybit Hack
ZachXBT, a well-known blockchain investigator, is investigating the incident, though the stolen funds have yet to be fully recovered. Yan has also reached out to on-chain investigators to attempt to blacklist the hacker’s addresses and possibly recover some of the stolen assets. The transfers from Yan’s wallet were distributed across seven addresses, making it challenging to trace the stolen funds.
Mask Network Unaffected by the Attack
While Yan’s wallet was targeted, the Mask Network protocol itself remained unaffected by the hack. MASK tokens traded with minimal price changes, maintaining their value at $2.14. The network’s security was not compromised, and the project reported no losses.
Before the attack, Yan had been vocal about the threat of social engineering methods to infiltrate Web3 infrastructure. He expressed concern that North Korea might deploy agents, known as “swallows,” to manipulate individuals in the crypto space.
