According to a recent online survey, parts of the Cosmos ecosystem may have been developed by North Korean operatives and could come to the attention of the FBI in 2023.
The #Cosmos ecosystem developer Jacob Gadikian said in an October 16 post X that North Korean developers may have been involved in the development of Cosmos' Liquid Staking Module (LSM). Gadikian stated that:
No matter their geography or ethnicity, the people who created LSM are the most experienced and prolific #cryptocurrency developers in the world.
The revelations have caused concern among investors who fear that these developers may be linked to the infamous North Korean Lazarus Group. The cybercriminal organization, allegedly linked to the North Korean government, has been involved in some of the largest cryptocurrency hacks, including the $600 million #Ronin Bridge attack.
Cosmos co-founder Ethan Bachman addressed the issue in an October 18 post X, saying his team was unaware of North Korea's involvement with LSM but is working quickly to address the situation. He said:
I would like to thank the team for coming together to expedite the inspections. We are also looking at ways to eliminate the reliance on LSM completely. None of us knew North Korea was using LSM, but we are working together to solve this problem.
Melody Chan, head of research at Redecentralise, expressed concerns that North Korean developers may have introduced backdoors and other vulnerabilities into the LSM code. She told Cointelegraph,
"The big concern is that these developers may have added vulnerabilities such as backdoors and ways to hack into the system, and given the current problems with LSM and the FBI warnings, it is clear that a thorough code audit is urgently needed.
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Lazarus Group is known to have stolen more than $3 billion in crypto assets between 2017 and 2023 and remains one of the most notorious cryptohacking groups.
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