Harmony Protocol's multi-sig wallet compromised in $100 million theft
Harmony Bridge Hack
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Harmony Protocol's multi-sig wallet compromised in $100 million theft
The Horizon cross-chain bridge of the Harmony blockchain has been hacked, resulting in the theft of approximately $100 million in assets. The Harmony team says it has identified the hacker's wallet and is now working with security partners, forensic experts and law enforcement to recover lost assets.
During the attack – which occurred on the morning of June 23, US time – the hacker was able to steal a variety of assets, including BUSD, USDC, ETH and wBTC, which have since been exchanged for ETH and remain in the hacker's accounts. Ethereum Blockchain. According to Harmony founder and CEO Stephen Tse, the hack on Horizon Bridge was not caused by vulnerabilities in smart contract code.
In a statement released in the days following the attack, Tse said the attacker compromised several private keys used to sign transactions on the multi-signature wallet controlling assets stored in the bridge. Prior to this hack, the multi-sig wallet that controlled assets at Horizon Bridge required only two of the four private keys to sign transactions, making it highly vulnerable to attack.
Since the attack, Tse has tweeted saying that the multi-sig wallet has been hardened to require four out of five private keys to sign any transaction. One of the primary risks of cross-chain bridges is that their assets are often held in highly centralized multi-sig wallets controlled by a small number of individuals.
This centralization of huge amounts of crypto assets makes them very attractive targets for hackers. Already this year, several cross-chain bridges – including Axi Infinity's Ronin Bridge and Solana's Wormhole Bridge – have been hacked, totaling close to US$1 billion. Despite the recent hacks on cross-chain bridges, DeFi remains by far the most vulnerable to exploitation in the cryptocurrency sector.
A recent report by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis found that since the beginning of 2020, 97 percent of crypto hacks have targeted DeFi applications. A few weeks ago, decentralized exchange Osmosis was forced to go offline after a Reddit user identified a US$5 million hack.
Harmony is a unique cryptocurrency platform that allows its users to purchase, exchange, and manage Real Estate with ease. Harmony is easy to use, safe and secure.