It’s been well-documented that crypto wallets are vulnerable to theft, but this new crypto heist may take the cake. On February 9th, 2019, Coin Telegraph reported that cybercriminals have stolen more than $5 million worth of digital assets since the beginning of 2019 through the use of malware called Solana. The campaign is ongoing and has targeted at least 10,000 crypto wallets with funds stored in it.
About $5.2 Million Worth of Digital Coins Including Solana’s Sol Token
About $5.2 million worth of digital coins including Solana’s sol token and USD Coin (USDC) have been drained of a total of just over 8,000 digital wallets according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. Solana Status, a Twitter account that reports attacks, confirmed on Wednesday morning that a total of 7,767 wallets were affected. Elliptic estimates 7,936 wallets.
The Solana token, one of the most recent and best-known cryptocurrencies after bitcoin and ether, declined about 8% in the first two hours after its initial detection, according to data from CoinMarketCap. It is currently down about 1%, but trading volume has increased by 105% over the last 24 hours.
Late on Tuesday, multiple users reported that internet-connected wallets that hold digital assets, including Phantom, Slope, and Trust Wallet, had been emptied of funds. In response to reports of a vulnerability, Phantom said on Twitter that it is currently investigating the reported vulnerability in the Solana ecosystem and doesn’t believe it’s a Phantom-specific issue. otters, a cryptocurrency audit firm, tweeted that the hack has affected wallets “across a variety of platforms.”
The Company’s Chief Scientist, Tom Robinson, Told CNBC That the Root
Chief scientist Tom Robinson of Elliptic told CNBC that the root cause of the breach is still unknown, but it “appears to be due to a flaw in certain wallet software,” rather than the Solana blockchain itself. otterSec pointed out that transactions were being signed by the real owners, which suggested the security had been compromised. a private key is a confidential code that allows the owner access to their crypto holdings. In addition to the attacker’s identity, the root cause of the exploit is still unclear. The breach is ongoing.
“Engineers from multiple ecosystems, working with security firms, are looking into drained wallets on Solana,” reports the Twitter account Solana Status, where the network updates are shared.
It is strongly encouraged that you use a hardware wallet, given the fact that there has been no evidence that these have been impacted.
“Don’t reuse your seed phrase on hardware wallets – create a new one. Wallets that have been compromised should be abandoned,” reads a tweet. A seed phrase is a series of random words generated by a crypto wallet at the time of set up, and grants access to the wallet.
The Solana Network was Considered to be One of The Most Promising New Entrants in the Crypto Market
A private key is singular and it corresponds to a person’s blockchain address. A seed phrase is a safeguard of a user’s blockchain assets that is accessible if their wallet is lost.
This incident follows the $200 million hack of the Nomad blockchain bridge. It’s the latest news on the crypto market in recent weeks. While it seems four hackers are linked to the current attack, the hacking spree that impacted over 120 people happened only yesterday, says crypto investor and analyst Miles Deutscher. this may suggest that a single entity conducted the so-called SOL exploit, but this has not been clarified in detail.
The Solana Network was looked at as one of the most promising newcomers in the crypto market, with its proponents hailing it as a possible contender to Ethereum in faster transaction processing and enhanced security. The network has faced a number of issues lately, including downtime during periods of activity and a perception of being more centralized than Ethereum. In June, the Solana platform was down for several hours due to an outage. Ethereum, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, gained 6% in 24 hours.
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