What we can learn from the World's Biggest Heists - James Birnie - NDC Security 2026

Описание: This talk was recorded at NDC Security in Oslo, Norway. #ndcsecurity #ndcconferences #security #developer #softwaredeveloper

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#architecture #hacker #supplychain

Have you heard of Axie Infinity? Its a computer game with an in game economy based on the Ethereum blockchain. So what? You might ask... Well, it became popular, very popular, some say the most popular game in existence. In game economies have always spawned grey IRL economies despite, in many cases, the best efforts of game developers to prevent them. But the in-game economy, based on real crypto-assets, of Axie Infinity grew so big that it became a target for what has been called the biggest robbery of all time - the Sky Mavis hack.

How did this robbery happen? What was the (both sophisticated and age-old) kill chain that enabled it?

After the robbery the story gets even more interesting. Any detective will always tell you, "follow the money!". Crime only pays if you can convert those ill gotten gains into a currency you spend to buy real things. So how do you launder the proceeds from the biggest robbery ever? The answer might be surprising, it winds through a crypto mixer set up to operate as a DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation), following the funds, US Government sanctions (recently ruled illegal by an appeal court), an activist campaign and potentially far reaching privacy consequences for all of us.

In this talk we'll analyse the kill chain of the initial attack, where the money led and how this could affect all of us. I'll go through the main takeaways that everybody should be interested in.