It has been brought to light that a recent and unprecedented security incident has been discovered in the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains. Blockchain researchers have warned that the ongoing crypto hack attack has already affected a massive number of users.
Wallet Draining Attack Spreads Across EVM Chains
Crypto investigator ZachXBT shared that there is a coordinated attack that has been draining funds from various Ethereum-based networks. Most individual victims have lost less than $2,000 each. However, more than $107,000 has been lost altogether at this point, and more incidents are yet to be discovered.
It is especially worrying in this case that there is no clarity on what compromised the wallets. Till now, no particular phishing attack or smart contract issue has been linked to the crypto hack.
Data indicates that the attacker transferred the stolen funds into various blockchains. The highest holding is in Ethereum, which holds about $54,600. The second one is BNB Chain, holding about $25,500. Stolen amounts were also tracked on platforms like Base, Arbitrum, Polygon, Optimism, Zora, Linea, and Avalanche.
Source: Debank.ioIt is found that there is a possible link between at least one of the addresses and the Trust Wallet hack. The hack was a result of codes injected into the Wallet’s extension in version 2.68. The hack took place during the Christmas holidays.
As per earlier reports, this hacked extension has resulted in a loss of around $7 million. The Trust Wallet CEO, Eowyn Chen, on Thursday confirmed that this extension was removed from Chrome Web Store due to an issue which arose while it was updating. The latest version offers better tools to enable users to easily claim their refunds and verify their ownership of the wallet.
December Marked by Surge in Crypto Hacks
This incident comes as part of a terrible month for security on the entire crypto market. There have been about 26 major exploits, according to blockchain security company PeckShield, with estimated losses close to $76 million, reported in December alone.
A loss of $50 million was recorded in a case of address poisoning. Here, scammers used similar-looking addresses to lure users into sending payments to the wrong place.
The second major crypto hack was a result of a leakage of a private key used in a multi-signature wallet, thereby resulting in the loss of over $27 million. The US government had warned earlier regarding the increased chances of online scams during the holiday season, with Americans falling prey to fraud on a scale of hundreds of millions every year.
As reported by blockchain analytics companies, the amount of theft associated with cryptocurrencies in the past year was $2.7 billion. The Bybit theft of $1.4 billion even shattered records of thefts such as Ronin and Poly Network.
A great part of these losses has come from hacking groups connected with states. Hackers from North Korea are responsible for the largest number of hacks in crypto.
Source: https://coingape.com/security-alert-mystery-exploit-hits-evm-chains-with-hundreds-of-wallets-drained-in-massive-attack/
