BNB Chain Encounters $80K Bitcoin Exploit: Ethical Hacker or Continuing Security Breach?
Crypto News– About $80,000 worth of Bitcoin (BTC), ticker down to $68,384, was lost in a potential exploit on the BNB Chain involving multiple suspicious transactions.
While $80,000 is considered a relatively small amount compared to the average crypto exploits, it has raised questions about the attacker’s intentions.
The exploited token contract remains unknown, but according to on-chain security firm Cyvers, the attacker could potentially be a white hat hacker, or ethical hacker, who employs their skills to uncover security vulnerabilities. In a post on May 28, Cyvers stated:
The total loss is approximately $80K. The attacker received funding via TornadoCash and has also interacted with the Binance exchange, indicating a possible white hat action.
Although the exploiter received funding from the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash, they also engaged with Binance, the world’s largest centralized exchange.
Sophisticated crypto hackers with malicious intent typically refrain from interacting with large centralized exchanges like Binance. These exchanges require Know Your Customer (KYC) verification, which could potentially unveil the identity of malicious actors.
Some cyber attacks end on a positive note
A week following Gala Games’ loss of $23 million worth of Gala tokens due to an exploit, Gala Games co-founder and CEO Eric Schiermeyer attributed the exploit to internal control issues, which the team promptly addressed.
In a surprising twist, the hacker returned $22.3 million worth of Ether (ETH) — nearly matching the market value of the 600 million GALA they had stolen and sold the day before — after their wallet was frozen with the stolen funds.
On May 12, the unidentified attacker returned the $71 million following the high-profile phishing incident, which drew the scrutiny of several blockchain investigation firms.
However, on-chain transactions indicate that the attacker was not an ethical hacker, but rather a malicious actor who became apprehensive due to the widespread attention and opted to return the funds.
FAQs
What is the nature of the $80K Bitcoin exploit on the BNB Chain?
The $80K Bitcoin exploit refers to a situation where an unauthorized party managed to exploit vulnerabilities in the BNB Chain, resulting in a loss of approximately $80,000 worth of Bitcoin.
What are the two potential explanations provided for the exploit?
The headline suggests that the exploit could either be the work of a white hat hacker, who discovers and reports vulnerabilities for ethical reasons, or it could be due to a persistent vulnerability within the BNB Chain.
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