Another crypto bridging company has been hacked, with tens of thousands of valuable Ethereum tokens stolen in a major heist.
The attack is the work of an as-yet-unknown cybercriminal who managed to siphon 85 Ether tokens from the Harmony bridge, worth around €867 million at the time of publication.
A bridge company offers the service of interchain currency transfer, a service that has become extremely popular in recent years. At the same time, these companies have become major targets for cybercriminals around the world, as they are often encrypted with insufficient security, leading to theft (opens in a new tab).
Earlier this year, a similar company called Wormhole was also hacked, with the attackers making off with €320 million worth of tokens. Shortly after, the Ronin Network, a crypto bridging company owned by the owners of the Axie Infinity game, was also compromised and ended up losing $620 million.
A 'humiliating' incident
Describing the incident in a Medium post, Harmony contributor Matthew Barrett said the company immediately notified security (opens in a new tab) and business partners, as well as the FBI. He said the hope was to find the culprit and recover the funds before they were laundered at crypto services (essentially, crypto laundering services).
"Harmony believes that focusing on decentralized bridging is a critical step for Web3," he said. "This incident is a humble and unfortunate reminder of how paramount our work is to the future of this space, and how much of our work lies ahead."
Most crypto bridges are audited by blockchain security companies, and Harmony was no different. It passed the audit in October 2020, which was performed by Peck Shield. Still, the security firm said it could not guarantee, with 100% certainty, that the protocol was airtight.
With over 20 cryptocurrencies operating on different chains, interoperability between these chains has never been more important. And with a lot of money in circulation, blockchain terminals (opens in a new tab) will continue to be a major target for crypto criminals.
Via: The Registry (Opens in a new tab)