Skip to main content

Harmony’s $100M Hack Was Due to a Compromised Multi-Sig Scheme, Says Analyst

Harmony's $100M Hack Was Due to a Compromised Multi-Sig Scheme, Says Analyst

On June 23, 2022, the Harmony development team announced that $100 million was siphoned from the Horizon bridge, and the organization explained it was working with national authorities and forensic specialists. According to an account published Polygon’s chief information security officer, Mudit Gupta, the Horizon bridge attacker allegedly took control of the multi-signature wallet leveraged in Harmony’s bridge.

Harmony’s Multi-Sig Exploited Polygon’s CSO Says, Harmony Protocol’s Founder Found Evidence That ‘Private Keys Were Compromised’

Three days ago, Harmony explained that it was attacked and the team witnessed $100 million siphoned from the Horizon bridge. “The Harmony team has identified a theft occurring this morning on the Horizon bridge amounting to approx. $100 [million],” Harmony tweeted on Thursday. “We have begun working with national authorities and forensic specialists to identify the culprit and retrieve the stolen funds,” the Harmony team added.

Following the exploit, the very next day, Polygon’s chief information security officer, Mudit Gupta, said that the bridge was a 2 of 5 multi-signature scheme, and anyone with two of the addresses can take control of it. “The hacker compromised 2 addresses and made them drain the money,” Gupta added. Gupta said while the details aren’t public yet he summarized what he believes took place during the hack. “The two addresses were likely hot wallets used to listen for and process legit bridging transactions,” Gupta explained.

“The attacker compromised the server(s) that these hot wallets were running on,” the Polygon CSO wrote on Friday. “Once inside the server, they could access the keys that were kept in plaintext for signing legit transactions. The server exploit was likely either SSH key compromise or social engineering. This is eerily similar to how Ronin was hacked.” The analyst further added:

This was not a ‘Blockchain Hack.’ It was a ‘Traditional Hack.’ I’ve been begging protocols to focus on traditional security too alongside blockchain security for months now…

Furthermore, an incident report written by the Harmony Protocol’s founder says “the team has found evidence that private keys were compromised, leading to the breach of our Horizon bridge — Funds were stolen from the Ethereum side of the bridge.” The Harmony founder also noted that “confidentiality is key to maintain integrity as part of this ongoing investigation — The omission of specific details is to protect sensitive data in the interest of our community.”

What do you think about the Harmony exploit for $100 million? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.



from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/jd8zDrw

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mt Gox Creditors Updated, Trustee Says Rehabilitation Custodian Is ‘Currently Preparing to Make Repayments’

On August 31, 2022, the Mt Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi explained in a recent letter that the rehabilitation custodian is “currently preparing to make repayments” to Mt Gox creditors. Trustee Updates Mt Gox Creditors — Repayment Date and Exchange Still Unknown Last week speculation and rumors concerning the release of 140K bitcoin ( BTC ) from Mt Gox littered social media platforms and headlines. Bitcoin.com News covered the situation six days ago as a number of people and Mt Gox creditors called the rumors “ fake news .” During that same period of time, a bitcoin whale transferred 10,000 BTC to unknown wallets, and a 2018 annotation , heuristics, and clustering methods show the funds likely originated from the June 2011 Mt Gox hacks. Following the mysterious whale transfer, last Wednesday, Mt Gox published an official update from the court trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi that explains the court is “currently preparing to make repayments” to creditors. Mt Gox creditors have been wait...

Fidelity Discusses Bitcoin as Portfolio Insurance — Could Soon Stand in ‘Stark Contrast’ to Path Fiat Currencies Take

Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments, says that bitcoin could be considered portfolio insurance. The firm notes that the cryptocurrency “may soon stand in stark contrast to the path that the rest of the world and fiat currencies may take — namely the path of increased supply, additional currency creation, and central bank balance sheet expansion.” Fidelity Says Bitcoin Could Be Portfolio Insurance Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments, recently published a research study titled “The Rising Dollar and Bitcoin.” The research outlines “how bitcoin could be considered portfolio insurance” as the rising dollar impacts global currency markets. “The strengthening U.S. dollar is wreaking havoc among other countries and may put pressure on the Federal Reserve to soon reverse its tightening monetary actions, something that has precedent based on 1985’s Plaza Accord,” Fidelity explained. In addition, “more monetary debasement may be needed to ...

Economists Discuss Russia, China Potentially Developing Gold-Backed Currency That Could Undermine US Dollar

Economists have weighed in on reports that China and Russia may be developing a new gold-backed currency that could undermine the U.S. dollar’s status as the world’s primary reserve currency. Russia and China May Be Developing Gold-Backed Currency Several experts have shared their views on Russia and China potentially creating a new gold-baked currency, Fox Business reported Saturday, emphasizing that China has been buying up huge quantities of gold while Russia was forced off the U.S. dollar due to sanctions imposed on the country following its invasion of Ukraine. The news outlet noted that some experts have cautioned that these moves, along with the closer relationship that has developed between Moscow and Beijing, point to the likelihood of China attempting to launch a gold-backed currency. However, neither Russia nor China has officially confirmed plans for such a currency. Craig Singleton, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former U.S. diplomat,...