The latest report on the Axie Infinity/ Ronin bridge hack is too good to be true. Especially considering the FBI claims a North Korea-sponsored hacking group is responsible for it. “A senior engineer at Axie Infinity was duped into applying for a job at a company that, in reality, did not exist,” The Block reports. That’s not all, apparently, the hackers’ spyware got into the system through a simple .pdf file. Unbelievable that a $622M hack started that way. The Ronin Network is an Ethereum sidechain that exclusively serves Axie Infinity. Both a billion-dollar business and a fun app with a thriving internal economy and an international audience, the play-to-earn game was one of the bull market’s biggest success stories. Sky Mavis is the studio behind Axie Infinity. And one of its programmers apparently fell victim to the simplest social engineering trick in the book. According to surveillance firm Chainalysis, North Korea-sponsored hackers stole over $400M in 2021 alone. And according to the FBI, they’re responsible for the Axie Infinity/ Ronin hack. The alphabet agency traced the funds to wallets associated with North Korean hacking group Lazarus. Does The Block’s article complete or negate this version of the story? It’s hard to see North Koreans pulling a stunt quite like this. In any case, at the time the FBI was extremely clear in a statement quoted here: “Through our investigation we were able to confirm Lazarus Gr...
