Crypto Hacker Steals Over $320 Million In Massive Heist

Blockchain bridge Wormhole has revealed that it had more than $320 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen by hackers.

On Wednesday, February 2, the developers confirmed via Twitter that 120,0000 wrapped Ethereum (wETH), which according to current exchange rates amounts to around $324 million, was 'exploited'.

The network was subsequently taken offline for repairs and to strengthen its security.

The wormhole network was exploited for 120k wETH.

ETH will be added over the next hours to ensure wETH is backed 1:1. More details to come shortly.

We are working to get the network back up quickly. Thanks for your patience.

— Wormhole🌪 (@wormholecrypto) February 2, 2022

As per Elliptic, Wormhole is a DeFi bridge between Solana and other blockchains.

The heist is reported as being the second-biggest from a DeFi service and the fourth-largest theft of cryptocurrency of all time.

The hack was able to be conducted due to a fault in Wormhole's system to validate 'guardian accounts'.

The heist saw 120,000 wrapped ETH taken via the Solana blockchain, before 93,750 ETH was then moved over to the Ethereum blockchain.

‼️ The wormhole network is down for maintenance as we look into a potential exploit.

📢 We will provide updates here as soon as we have them.

🙏 Thank you for your patience.

— Wormhole🌪 (@wormholecrypto) February 2, 2022

The attacker has since been offered a 'bounty' totalling $10 million to return the funds to the developer, as per a tweet by Tom Robinson, chief scientist and co-founder of Elliptic.

The message stated, 'This is the Wormhole Deployer: We noticed you were able to exploit the Solana VAA verification and mint tokens. We'd like to offer you a whitehat agreement, and present you a bug bounty of $10 million for exploit details, and returning the wETH you ve minted. You can reach out to us at [email protected].'

Moreover, potential victims of the attack who have also had their money potentially taken have reportedly reached out to the hacker in a bid to get it returned.

One person who claims to be a nurse and have lost $100,000 in the attack said, 'These are all my savings. I hope you can return it to me. Everyone will get sick. Think of the nurses who care you when you are sick. I wish you always health and enjoy the happiness of the world. GOD BLESS YOU.'

Wormhole, a DeFi bridge between Solana and other blockchains, has reportedly been exploited - with $260 million stolen. That makes it the fifth largest #crypto hack of all time.
Wormhole has offered the attacker a $10 million "bounty" to return the funds. pic.twitter.com/jKKEqFhbR2

— Tom Robinson (@tomrobin) February 2, 2022

The latest heist follows not long after another hacker took to robbing Poly Network of a whopping $600 million (£433 million) in cryptocurrency.

However, the hacker later decided to return the funds, resolving that they were 'not very interested in the money' and had just carried out the theft in a bid to highlight the flaws in Poly Network's system.

Robinson questioned 'whether this hacker stole the funds, realised how much publicity and attention they were getting, realised wherever they moved the funds they would be watched, and decided to give it back'.

He concluded, 'The blockchain itself has operated here flawlessly, but the problem is on blockchains like Ethereum, you can write your own smart contracts. Various services have started offering this, including Poly Network. So whenever a human being writes code, there’s a chance they will make a mistake.'

As per the latest update by Wormhole surrounding the most recent hack, the developer updated its followers today, February 3, that the vulnerability has been 'patched' and that it is 'working to get the network back up as soon as possible'.

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