$80,000 in Bitcoin Lost: Ethical Hacker Suspected in BNB Chain Exploit
Summary:
A potential vulnerability on the BNB Chain resulted in the loss of about $80,000 in Bitcoin through dubious transactions. Despite receiving funds from cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash, the hacker also communicated with Binance, the world's largest centralized exchange. The exploiter, hypothesized to be a white hat hacker, returned the stolen cryptocurrency, marking the second instance in May where stolen funds have been returned. This aligns with another incident earlier this month where $71 million stolen in a recent wallet poisoning scam was returned to the victim by the malicious actor due to immense public attention.
In a potential breach on the BNB Chain, numerous doubtful transactions resulted in the loss of Bitcoin (BTC) valued around $80,000. Although relatively small in comparison to typical cryptocurrency breaches, this event has sparked inquiries into the perpetrator's motives. The token contract impacted remains unidentified, but Cyvers, an on-chain security company, believes the offender might be an ethical hacker or "white hat" aiming to expose security flaws. Cyvers revealed in a report dated May 28 that the attacker acquired funding via TornadoCash and interacted with the Binance exchange, implying a potential ethical hacking scenario. Cointelegraph has reached out to Cyvers for remarks.
Despite receiving funds from Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixing service, the person behind the exploit also engaged with Binance, a leading globally centralized crypto exchange. Sophisticated cybercriminals aiming to cause harm typically abstain from engaging with large centralized exchanges such as Binance, as it demands Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance, which could reveal the identity of the malicious parties.
Recall the fresh narrative about Gala Games, exploited just a week ago for GALA tokens worth $23 million. According to Gala Games' CEO and co-founder Eric Schiermeyer, an internal controls issue led to the exploit, which is now resolved. Unexpectedly, the hacker returned Ether (ETH) worth around $22.3 million, almost equivalent to the market value of the 600 million GALA taken and sold a day earlier. This happened after the exploiter's wallet, holding the stolen money, got frozen.
This makes it the second instance in May where stolen funds got returned by the criminal. Furthermore, stolen cryptocurrencies worth $71 million from a recent wallet poisoning scam found their way back to the victim earlier this month. Transactions showed that the party returning the money wasn't an ethical hacker but a malicious actor that decided to return the funds likely due to fear generated from the high-profile theft and consequential large-scale attention.
Published At
5/28/2024 1:50:32 PM
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