Binance Identifies Two Suspects Involved in Yesterday’s KyberSwap Hack
- As a multi-chain protocol leveraging dozens of blockchains, KyberSwap was prone to security breaches based on its flawed design.
- Notably, the platform had previously offered the hacker a bug bounty of 15 percent of the funds if returned.
- According to KyberSwap, the attacker may have targeted multiple decentralized financial sites via a similar method.
Binance’s security team has ostensibly identified two suspects from yesterday’s KyberSwap hack that siphoned $265k. According to Binance CEO CZ, they have provided the intel to the KyberSwap team. Additionally, CZ confirmed that they are working closely with law enforcement to apprehend the suspects.
Remember, the Binance cryptocurrency exchange is fully KYC enabled, thus capable of identifying customers by physical address and facial features.
The announcement is a relief to KyberSwap which had announced that the affected users will be compensated for the stolen funds
Closer Look at the KyberSwap Attack
KyberSwap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator that provides users with updated token prices from thousands of exchanges. Additionally, the platform acts as an automated market maker (AMM) with various types of liquidity pools.
As a multi-chain protocol leveraging dozens of blockchains, KyberSwap was prone to security breaches based on its flawed design.
“On 1 Sep, 3.24 PM GMT+7, we identified a suspicious element on our front end. Shutting down our front end to conduct investigations, we identified a malicious code in our Google Tag Manager (GTM)which inserted a false approval, allowing a hacker to transfer a user’s funds to his address,” the company explained.
Notably, the platform had previously offered the hacker a bug bounty of 15 percent of the funds if returned. According to KyberSwap, the hacker has no means of cashing out the stolen funds without being identified.
True to their words, Binance has identified the suspects and is currently working with the appropriate law enforcement.
Following the KyberSwap attack, the platform has urged other DeFi projects to conduct a thorough check on their frontend code and associated Google Tag Manager (GTM) scripts. According to KyberSwap, the attacker may have targeted multiple decentralized financial sites via a similar method.
Reportedly, the KyberSwap attacker had targeted whale wallets with only 2 identified addresses affected so far. Consequently, the platform has confidently said that no other user was affected by yesterday’s attack.
Meanwhile, KyberSwap enjoys support from 12 chains and over 66 DEXs that have over $24 billion in total value locked. The DEX aggregator supports over 20,000 tokens in the cryptocurrency industry.
Notably, KyberSwap has a total trading volume of $10.35 billion and the total value locked (TVL) stands at $71.61 billion.
Side Notes
The interception of the KyberSwap attackers is a clear demonstration of how the cryptocurrency and blockchain market has grown in the past decade. Additionally, with the increased cryptocurrency regulation from around the world, exchanges would not want to get involved in any case of money laundering.
In the past, Binance has helped intercept stolen funds through its vast security team. As such, the level of trust in the cryptocurrency industry is expected to grow despite the falling prices.
Rebecca is a Senior Staff Writer at BitcoinWisdom, working hard to bring you the latest breaking news in the cryptocurrency market. In the words of Elon Musk “Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in. Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does. This will serve you well in the long-term.”
