The solana blockchain-based ecosystem has been face hacking Attacks again. An ongoing, widespread hack has seend as much as $8 million in funds drained so far across a number of Solana-based hot wallets.
At the time of writing, Solana (SOL) is currently trending on Twitter as many users are either reporting on the hack as it revealed, many reporting to have lost funds themselves, warning anyone with Solana-based hot wallets such as Phantom and Slope wallets to move their funds into cold wallets.
Solana ecosystem contributor @SolportTom was among the first to raise the alarm about the exploit on Twitter, tweeted that
”Massive exploit/drain going on with Solana seeing it live in Taiyo tons of people losing their whole balance out of no where.
Move everything to a ledger NOW.”
Massive exploit/drain going on with Solana seeing it live in Taiyo tons of people losing their whole balance out of no where.
Move everything to a ledger NOW.
Two wallets reported:
— Tom 《TYR》 (@SolportTom) August 2, 2022
Blockchain investigator PeckShield on August 2 said the widespread hack is likely due to a “supply chain issue” which has been exploited to steal user private keys behind affected wallets. It said the estimated loss so far is around $8 million.
#PeckShieldAlert The widespread hack on Solana wallets is likely due to the supply chain issue exploited to steal/uncover user private keys behind affects wallets. So far, the loss is estimated to be $8M, excluding one illiquid shitcoin (only has 30 holds & maybe misvalued $570M) pic.twitter.com/aTGNsTc6d8
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) August 3, 2022
Solana-based wallets providers including Phantom and Slope, and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden are among those that have commented on the issue, with wallet provider Phantom noting that it is working with other teams to get to the bottom of the issue, although it says it does not “believe this is a Phantom-specific issue” at this stage.
We are working closely with other teams to get to the bottom of a reported vulnerability in the Solana ecosystem. At this time, the team does not believe this is a Phantom-specific issue.
As soon as we gather more information, we will issue an update.
— Phantom (@phantom) August 3, 2022
Slope said it is currently working with Solana Labs and other Solana-based protocols to pinpoint the issue and rectify it, though there were “no major breakthroughs yet.”
Also Read: Nomad Bridge Hacked, Nearly $190M Exploit
Magic Ethen confirmed the reports earlier in the day by stating that “seems to be a widespread SOL exploit at play that’s draining wallets throughout the ecosystem” as it called on users to revoke permissions for any suspicious links in their Phantom wallets.
🚨🚨🚨There seems to be a widespread SOL exploit at play that's draining wallets throughout the ecosystem
Here's what you can do right now to best protect yourself
1. Go to >Settings on your @phantom wallet
2. >Trusted Apps
3. >Revoke Permissions for any suspicious links💜
— Magic Ethen 🪄 (@MagicEden) August 3, 2022
Popular scam detective and self-described “on-chain sleuth” @zachxbt also did some digging and revealed that the hackers initially funded the primary wallet associated with this attack via Binance seven months ago.
Scammers wallet funded via Binance 7 months agohttps://t.co/5gQbObcsg4 https://t.co/sco5SPBrne pic.twitter.com/AL6Hm4F3R3
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) August 3, 2022
The transaction history shows that the wallet remained dormant until today before the hackers conducted transactions with four different wallets 10 minutes before the attack started.
There have also been different reports on how many wallets have been affected and the extent of the damage so far.
Solana blockchain based app STEPN (@Stepnofficial) have also tweeted a PSA on the Solana hacking and some advice on what actions to take to keep funds secure.
🚨There seems to be a widespread hacking throughout the Solana ecosystem🚨 Here is what you need to do 👇
— STEPN | Public Beta Phase IV (@Stepnofficial) August 3, 2022
Crypto Twitter user and crypto developer @0xfoobar had his own theory on the cause, linking the attack to a widespread private key compromise. According to foobar both Phantom and Slope wallets are affected, lending some credibility to Phantom’s claims.
https://twitter.com/0xfoobar/status/1554627762807349249?t=Tm-96219eJf39YmJZjFyzg&s=19
Changpeng Zhao, CEO of crypto exchange Binance, took to Twitter and wrote about the security incident on the Solana chain. For security reasons, he suggested removing all Solana-based coin to hardware wallets and centralized exchanges.
There is an active security incident on Solana. Many (7000+ and counting) wallets are drained of SOL & USDC. Don't know root cause yet. Maybe permissions granted to apps. For remediation, send the funds to a cold wallet or CEX like @Binance. https://t.co/nQrBXAgCbf
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) August 3, 2022
Indian cripto expert and founder of bitinning Kashif Raza has expressed concern about this Solana hacking attack on Twitter,
More than 8,000 wallets were hacked and $6 million worth of #Solana and USDC have been compromised.
The attack seems to have originated from Solana's browser wallet (Phantom).
Blockchain Trilemma is impossible to solve!
Those who claim it will be tested again & again & again!!
— Kashif Raza (@simplykashif) August 3, 2022