TL; DR Breakdown
- Wormhole suffers $321 million hack.
- The platform bridges different blockchains.
- The hacker breached a vulnerability in Solana.
The issue of scams and hacks in the crypto sector is one menace that still needs curbing despite major attempts. Although regulators have little to do on this part, platforms need to do better to protect their database from getting breached. However, one of the largest hacks that will ever take place has happened in the early hours of today. The hack saw Wormhole suffer a loss of about 100,000 wETH after the breach.
Wormhole bridges blockchains for token exchange
Taking that number into context, the hackers were said to have made away with more than $300 million from the platform. Wormhole provides a link that allows traders across different blockchains to exchange digital assets without passing through a central exchange. Aside from Ethereum, the platform supports blockchain such as Solana, Terra, and others.
This hack will go down as the biggest hack of this year if no figure eventually comes close. However, it has now taken its place among the biggest hack in history, claiming the second spot. In a bid to spur people in helping them track and retrieve the stolen funds, Wormhole has announced that it will give out $10 million to anybody who can carry out such a feat.
Hacker breached a weak link in Solana
A look into how it took place shows that the hackers breached a vulnerable part of Solana to get into the platform. With this, there have been raised concerns about the link that bridges to Terra being another weak link. The developers of Wormhole are presently on top of the situation, assuring traders that they would make sure there is a fresh influx of Ethereum. However, the statement does not point to a particular place that the Ethereum would be sourced or gotten from.
The malicious actor attacked the platform via Solana bridge to mint more than 120,000 wETH before exchanging part of the funds to Ethereum. In total, the hacker was able to move $254 million using that method. The hacker has since used the funds by purchasing some NFTs, among other DeFi tokens. Presently, the remaining figure on the hacker’s wallet address says $44 million. Although no other assets have been breached, cyber analytics firm Certik has warned about a future occurrence from the Terra side of the bridge. Wormhole also mentioned that they had contacted the hacker with a promise to allow him to keep $10 million of the loot if he returns the remaining funds.
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