Just a few hours ago the heads of the Poly Network platform confirmed that a hacking group managed to steal more than $613 million USD in cryptocurrency, in what could be the largest virtual asset theft in history. Now, the blockchain network confirmed that more than a third of the stolen assets (about $260 million USD) were returned to Poly Network, something that only those responsible for the mass robbery could have done.
As some will recall, Poly Network is a transnational decentralized financial platform that operates on the Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum and Polygon blockchains, connecting them at a cyberpoint so they can remove intermediaries, making transfers easier.
Via its official Twitter account, Poly Network confirmed that around $353 million USD in Ethereum and Polygon remain lost.
Although the incident seemed to have no solution and all affected users had lost any hope, something changed in the hackers responsible for the attack, who decided to return a portion of the tokens. Something that seems to have influenced is the level of attention that online wallets used by attackers, so even Poly Network recommended to stop making transactions, as this could be harmful to them.
In this regard, the hackers improvised a question and answer session through the notes section in their online wallets. During this session the attackers confirmed that their intention was only to demonstrate the serious vulnerabilities in contract calls on the platform, although they refused to reveal the exploits used.
In subsequent messages the attackers even issued a series of security recommendations for Poly Network and insisted that stealing cryptocurrencies was never their intention: “We are not interested in money. This was all for fun.” In another unexpected act, the hackers even solicited donations to continue their work, though it’s a total mystery to know exactly what they mean.
According to transactions recorded in online wallets, attackers have collected some $3,500 USD in donations, a far cry from the $613 million USD stolen from Poly Networks.
To learn more about information security risks, malware variants, vulnerabilities and information technologies, feel free to access the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) websites.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
