Hacking

The DeFi giant may have escaped a death spiral, but exploits and code problems like what it recently suffered are more commonplace — and preventable — than what the industry acknowledges.

Mixin Network announced Monday that the database of its cloud service provider was hacked, resulting in the loss of approximately US$200 million.

Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx Global suffered a security breach on Tuesday, resulting in an estimated loss of US$43 million in cryptocurrencies.

North Korea-backed Lazarus Group was behind the US$41 million hack of online crypto gambling platform Stake.com on Monday, FBI says.

Making sure the smart contracts behind DeFi platforms are thoroughly audited isn’t just a job for code developers — it’s also a must for ordinary investors.

Even as the value of assets in DeFi dips, service provider revenues stand strong, undeterred by the US$73 million Curve Finance breach, Forkast Labs data shows.

The Tornado Cash mixer’s co-founders have been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with money laundering and sanctions violations.

Bitcoin fell in Tuesday afternoon trading in Asia, dipping below the support level of US$29,000.

If Web3 wants to be an alternative to traditional finance, the industry must make itself less vulnerable to hacks and security breaches, writes Richard Meissner.

Bitcoin and Ether prices dropped on Monday morning in Asia, but remained above key support levels. Altcoins fell on Curve Finance hack.

The key to making crypto easier to use while less prone to skulduggery lies in centralizing some security and UX features, writes Hsuan Lee of Blocto.

Having a crypto wallet is necessary to participate in a token airdrop, but wallets are also vulnerable to hacks and mishaps, writes Ravindra Kumar of Frontier.

An account of a holiday from hell draws parallel to the dark world of cybercrime and how anyone can fall victim to sophisticated crypto thefts.

The U.S. Department of Justice is aiming to crack down on cryptocurrency exchanges that help criminals facilitate money laundering

Securing keys is an issue that has bedeviled the crypto world, as the $600M Ronin and $300M Wormhole heists have painfully shown. Is there a better way?

A hacker took advantage of an old contract from Yearn Finance on Thursday to steal US$11.6 million in stablecoins.

South Korean exchange GDAC has suspended withdrawals and deposits after losing over US$13.1 million in Bitcoin, Ether, Wemix and USDT in a hack.

Poolz Finance, a cross-chain crowdfunding launchpad for Web3 projects, has been exploited for US$390,000 worth of digital assets

Euler Finance, a decentralized finance lending protocol has lost approximately US$197 million in an exploit, according to online crypto security analysts.

Hackers stole at least US$3.8 billion in cryptocurrencies throughout 2022, a record-breaking year for crypto heists, says blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis.

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX told creditors that it lost around US$415 million worth of cryptocurrencies to hacks since it filed for bankruptcy.

The Lazarus Group, a North Korean cybercrime organization, has transferred 41,000 Ether (US$63.9 million) stolen from the 2022 Harmony bridge hack onto cryptocurrency exchanges Binance, OKX and Huobi, according to blockchain data shared by Twitter sleuth ZachXBT.

Being on the watch, your tracker knows where you live, when you sleep and how healthy (or not) you are. What happens if your data is sold — or hacked?

Immunefi founder Mitchell Amador believes the future security risks of CBDCs will highlight the benefits of DeFi.

Germany said “Godfather” virus generates a fake copy of a banking or crypto app login screen to appropriate a user’s information and steal funds.

A group of S.Korean hackers stole 8.5 billion Korean won (US$6.7 million) worth of cryptocurrencies from Kim Jung-ju, the late founder of Nexon.

Blockchain browser and mining pool BTC.com said on Monday that it got hacked earlier this month, and lost around US$2.3 million of its own assets and US$700,000 of clients’ assets.

The blockchain sphere has been hit with a ton of security issues over 2022. What can we do about it to make things better?

The collapse of FTX.com and its far-reaching impacts will hinder North Korea’s ability to profit from cryptocurrency hacks, says one analyst.

The alleged hacker behind the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars from the cryptocurrency exchange FTX is moving the funds around to separate wallets.

The address associated with the FTX hack swapped US$48.2 million worth of DAI stablecoins to 37,570 Ether and became the 35th largest holder of the world’s second-largest crypto.

FTX officials confirmed on Sunday that unauthorized transactions have drained millions of remaining user funds from wallets over the weekend.

The network says the apparent attack was just a preemptive safeguard against an issue with a cross-chain bridge.

A Twitter user highlighted a vulnerability in BitBTC’s Optimism bridge and averted what could have been the latest in a string of bridge exploits this month.

The perpetrator of the US$9.1 million Moola Market exploit returned close to the entirety of the loot in exchange for an undisclosed ransom on Wednesday, according to the project’s social media update.   See related article: ‘Hacktober’ continues with US$1 mln taken from BitKeep token swap service Fast facts Decentralized finance (DeFi) project Moola Markets announced […]

An unidentified hacker stole over US$1 million in Binance Coin (BNB) tokens from decentralized multi-chain wallet BitKeep’s token swap service on Monday, according to a Tuesday statement by the company. See related article: Crypto hackers on track for bonanza year as theft surges, Chainalysis says Fast facts “Our development team managed to contain the emergency […]

The Japanese government approved amendments to existing financial regulations to prevent money laundering utilizing cryptocurrencies and increase penalties on those involved, according to local media reports. See related article: North Korea’s Lazarus Group attacks Japanese crypto firms, police say Fast facts The Cabinet, Japan’s executive body, approved the revisions to laws associated with the country’s […]

North Korea-backed hacker group Lazarus has been sending phishing emails to Japanese crypto exchange employees to infect their computers with malware, causing some companies to have their systems hacked and cryptocurrencies stolen, Japan’s National Police Agency announced last week. See related article: DPRK hackers sneak US$52 mln in crypto into S.Korean exchanges: Chainalysis Fast facts […]

Decentralized finance sites are the preferred choice of hackers as crypto heists look to be on course to hit a record high this year.

South Korean media has reported that local crypto exchanges may become a “playground” for North Korean hackers.

Through quick identification and cooperation of network validators, most funds were saved in last week’s BNB Chain exploit.

Binance’s BNB Chain has come back online after being suspended earlier in the morning when an exploit was identified, the blockchain announced on Twitter on Friday afternoon in Asia. See related article: Binance suspends BNB blockchain on potential exploit; Peckshield reports US$572 mln hack Fast facts Changpeng Zhao, cofounder and chief executive officer of Binance, […]

The BNB Chain — the blockchain operated by the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance Global Inc. — has suspended operation as developers have identified a potential exploit on the network, according to an official Binance Twitter account. See related article: Chainalysis says $2 bln stolen in cross-chain bridge hacks this year, more expected Fast facts […]

A hacker in the Transit Swap recent hack will consider returning more funds after Transit Swap completes the first phase of user returns, according to a message transmitted on blockchain from one of the hacker’s addresses on Thursday. See related article: Hacker returned 70% of stolen US$23M in funds: Transit Swap Fast facts See related […]

Cross-chain DEX (decentralized exchange) aggregator Transit Swap was exploited, resulting in US$23 million lost funds, crypto auditor SlowMist said on Sunday. The hacker has returned 70% of the stolen funds, Transit Swap said on the same day. See related article: Nomad’s US$200 million hack; Saylor steps down  Fast facts See related article: Why blockchain bridges […]

CoinDCX, India’s first crypto unicorn, asked users not to click on any link or messages from its official Twitter handle as the company lost control of the social media account following a hack. See related article: How Twitter hackers social-engineered their way into VIP accounts to shill for bitcoin Fast facts “We are in the […]

Cryptocurrency-related insurance is a vast untapped market, with less than 1% of crypto investments covered amid hacks and losses in the industry running into the billions of dollars, Cointelegraph reported, citing an executive from decentralized insurance protocol InsurAce. See related article: DeFi insurance: Why buy coverage for your digital assets? Fast facts Dan Thomson, the […]

Over US$30 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen by North Korea-linked hackers has been seized by law enforcement, with the help of crypto organizations like the Chainalysis Crypto Incident Response Team. See related article: North Korea behind Ronin hack: US Fast facts This marks the first time that digital assets stolen from North Korean hacking groups […]

BABL, the native cryptocurrency of Babylon Finance, has lost 92% of its value after the decentralized finance (DeFi) asset management protocol’s founder Ramon Recuero on Wednesday announced plans to shut down its services. See related article: Chainalysis says $2 bln stolen in cross-chain bridge hacks this year, more expected Fast facts The token was trading […]

Non-fungible token (NFT) platform SudoRare has allegedly run off with US$815,000 in user funds and deleted its social media accounts, raising alarms over investor protection.  See related article: Klaytn chief says reducing ‘human elements’ can prevent hacks Fast facts According to PeckShield Inc., a blockchain security and data analytics company, SudoRare took off with 519 […]

The hackers responsible for stealing US$610 million worth of crypto from Axie Infinity’s Ronin bridge back in March have since transferred most funds from ETH into BTC using renBTC and privacy tools like Blender, ChipMixer, and TornadoCash, according to a report. See related article: Axie Infinity blockchain Ronin hacked for over $600M Fast facts The […]

Solana-based wallet Slope said on Thursday there is no “conclusive evidence” to connect its mobile wallet’s loophole with Solana’s recent breach, although 1,400 wallets connected to the loophole were drained. See related article: Seed-phrase leak from crypto wallet Slope prompts Solana hack Fast facts See related article: Solana blames Slope for exploit

After high-profile cyberattacks on decentralized apps, the blockchain industry is in a hurry to ramp up security. Sam Sangmin Seo, head of Klaytn, tells Forkast that minimizing human error may be the key.

Why are cross-chain bridges so attractive for hackers? Also, we take a deeper dive into how the market reacts to it.

DeBridge cofounder Alex Smirnov on Saturday alleged their team found evidence that North Korean state-backed Lazarus Group was attempting to attack the cross-chain protocol, warning that the group’s attack could broadly target Web3 teams. See related article: After Nomad and Solana, ZB.com gets hacked for US$4.8 mln Fast facts See related article: Why blockchain bridges […]

The massive Solana wallet hack had occurred after centralized servers stored unencrypted seed phrases sent by Slope Wallet’s mobile app, making them visible to anyone with access to the server, showed a preliminary finding from blockchain audit firm OtterSec. See related article: Solana blames Slope for exploit Fast facts See related article: After Nomad and […]

Crypto trading platform ZB.com, which halted withdrawals on Tuesday citing maintenance, may have been hacked to the tune of US$4.8 million, blockchain analytics firm PeckShield said on Wednesday. See related article: Nomad Bridge alerts law enforcement amid US$200 mln attack Fast facts According to PeckShield, hackers drained 21 different tokens from ZB.com, including USDT, USDC, […]

The massive Solana wallet exploit that began on Wednesday Hong Kong time is believed to be related to the Slope mobile wallet app, while there is no evidence to show the blockchain’s code was compromised, Solana said. See related article:  Bitcoin, Ethereum little changed; Solana still lower after network hack Fast facts See related article: […]

Solana fell 4% in Asia afternoon trading on Wednesday as reports surfaced of a hack that had drained thousands of wallets holding the token. Bitcoin and Ethereum edged higher, though U.S.-China tensions were a broader concern across all markets. Bitcoin traded at US$23,187 as of 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, up 1.47% in the prior […]

Approximately 7,767 wallets have been affected in the Solana exploit as of 1 p.m. Hong Kong time. Solana-based wallets Slope and Phantom are on the list, Solana said. See related article: Cardano users said to be indirectly affected by Nomad’s US$200 mln exploit Fast facts See related article: Waves community approves repayment plan for lending […]

Monday’s attack on Nomad indirectly affected Cardano users as the protocol was one of multiple bridges deployed to Milkomeda C1, a layer 2 protocol which allows Ethereum decentralized apps (dApps) to be deployed in the Cardano ecosystem, Milkomeda said. See related article: More than 300 addresses said to perpetrate Nomad’s US$200 mln exploit Fast facts […]

More than 300 bad actors stole US$191 million from Nomad’s cross-chain bridge which resulted from a software upgrade that backfired, crypto analytics firm PeckShield told The Block on Tuesday. See related article: Nomad Bridge alerts law enforcement amid US$200 mln attack Fast facts A routine software update on one of Nomad’s smart contracts allowed users […]

In an update to its followers on Tuesday evening Asia time, cross-chain bridge Nomad said it is working to identify the attacker and recover the funds after an exploit drained nearly US$200 million on Monday. See related article: Nirvana’s ANA token down more than 80% after US$3.5 mln hack  Fast facts “We are working around […]

Solana-based decentralized finance protocol Nirvana Finance was exploited in a flash loan attack for US$3.49 million on July 28, the firm announced in a Twitter post, causing its tokens to topple by more than 80%. See related article: C.R.E.A.M. Finance suffers $28M flash loan hack Fast facts Using flash loans on lending protocol Solend, the […]

Harmony Protocol announced on Wednesday a reimbursement plan for wallets affected by the US$100 million hack on its Horizon cross-chain bridge last month, which was met by mostly negative feedback. See related article: North Korea said to be responsible for Harmony Horizon hack Fast facts The reimbursement will be with Harmony’s ONE cryptocurrency, distributed monthly […]

The U.S. Justice Department seized about US$500,000 from North Korea-backed hackers using ransomware, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced on Tuesday. See related article: US Treasury says prioritize sanctioning North Korea for crypto hacking Fast facts Hackers demanded Bitcoin ransom from Kansas and Colorado medical providers that were attacked by a never-before-seen ransomware strain called […]

State-affiliated hacker group Lazarus is allegedly connected to the US$100 million hack on Harmony Protocol’s Horizon cross-chain bridge, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said. See related article: Horizon’s US$100 mln crypto hack prompts FBI investigation Fast facts The attack on Harmony resembled previous hacks attributed to the Lazarus Group, such as exploiting multi-signature wallet keys, extensive […]

Sky Mavis’ Ronin Bridge is back online after one of the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) heists in history prompted a three-month network hiatus, Ronin announced in a Tuesday newsletter. See related article: Are we helpless against attacks on blockchain bridges? Fast facts Ronin Bridge is used by non-fungible token (NFT) game Axie Infinity players to […]

Crypto hacks facilitated by North Korea help fund its weapons of mass destruction, U.S. Treasury Department’s Brian E. Nelson said on his recent visit to South Korea. See related article: North Korea behind Ronin hack: US Fast facts Nelson met with representatives of South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) and Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) on […]

Harmony’s Horizon cross-chain bridge is now the third of its kind to suffer a major hack this year. What are the alternatives that may be more secure?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and multiple cybersecurity companies have started investigating the US$100 million hack on Harmony Protocol’s Horizon cross-chain bridge. See related article: Axie Infinity hack proceeds continue to be laundered despite US sanctions Fast facts Harmony Protocol announced it was attacked on Friday morning Asia time, adding it had alerted exchanges […]

IRA Financial Trust announced a lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Trust Company on Monday for alleged failures in safeguarding IRA’s crypto assets in the exchange. See related article: Binance users burned by outage band together to take legal action Fast facts IRA manages self-directed retirement accounts in non-traditional assets such as Bitcoin which were held […]