A staggering $600 million was stolen in what might be one of the biggest cryptocurrency thefts ever. What’s somewhat unusual is that the hackers have returned more than half the amount stolen.
The hackers exploited a vulnerability in Poly Network, a platform designed to connect different blockchains to enable what is known as decentralized finance or DeFi.
The Poly Network posted a tweet addressing directly to the hackers:
— Poly Network (@PolyNetwork2) August 10, 2021
Poly Network emphasized that the stolen money belonged to the people and not the corporate. They did this to encourage the hackers to return the funds and workaround a solution to bring onboard the hacker, maybe to fix any additional vulnerabilities.
Generally, crypto criminals try to use crypto mixers and servers in offshore jurisdictions that don’t cooperate with US law enforcement to launder the proceeds of their crimes.
This hacker group’s apparent failure to do that leaves experts to speculate that the crooks here could be amateurs or someone who did this simply to prove that there’s a vulnerability in Poly Network’s system.
In a shocking turn of events, the hackers have returned over $350 million worth of cryptocurrencies. Whether it’s because of the fear of getting caught or exposing the vulnerability, that’s a mystery we’ll never know.
DeFi cyberattacks have been on the rise since the global acceptance of cryptocurrencies became mainstream. Similarly, DeFi related frauds are escalating and account for 54% of total crypto fraud volume versus 3% for last year. That’s a massive jump in just a year.
This stresses the need for having security measures in place when accessing or trading in cryptocurrencies.
PureVPN
January 2, 2023
1 year ago
