{"id":12700,"date":"2022-08-03T15:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nftandcrypto-news.com\/nft\/8000-solana-wallets-attacked-in-a-multimillion-dollar-hack\/"},"modified":"2022-08-03T15:00:37","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T15:00:37","slug":"8000-solana-wallets-attacked-in-a-multimillion-dollar-hack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nftandcrypto-news.com\/nft\/8000-solana-wallets-attacked-in-a-multimillion-dollar-hack\/","title":{"rendered":"8,000 Solana Wallets Attacked in a Multimillion Dollar Hack"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Late Tuesday evening, scores of Solana suddenly found their crypto wallets completely drained of their digital contents. Unidentified hackers had broken into thousands of hot wallets \u2014 software-based crypto wallets that require an active connection to the internet \u2014 and arranged for the transfer of all funds in these wallets to an unknown third party.<\/p>\n

Solana initially confirmed the hack in a Tuesday night tweet, saying: \u201cEngineers from multiple ecosystems, with the help of several security firms, are investigating drained wallets on Solana. There is no evidence hardware wallets are impacted.\u201d Then Solana made a follow-up tweet<\/a> early Wednesday morning, confirming that \u201c7,767 wallets [had] been affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the number of infected wallets continued to climb into Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The total amount stolen? Reportedly, more than $5 million<\/a> in SOL, SPL, and other tokens that live on the Solana blockchain.<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udea8 Widespread Solana private key compromise \ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n

\u2013 attacker is stealing both native tokens (SOL) and SPL tokens (USDC)
\u2013 affecting wallets that have been inactive for >6 months
\u2013 both Phantom & Slope wallets reportedly drained pic.twitter.com\/AkZXOGLD0Q<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 foobar (@0xfoobar) August 3, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Solana hack rekindles debate on hot wallet security <\/h2>\n

So how were so many crypto wallets compromised? Blockchain auditors OtterSec<\/a> believe that the hackers were able to execute this theft on this scale due to a \u201cprivate key compromise.\u201d Upon reviewing the transaction history of affected users, they\u2019d found that each wallet-draining \u201ctransaction\u201d was signed by the users themselves. Although early reports suggested that the hackers exploited a vulnerability on Phantom<\/a>, reports flooded in later in the evening of Slope and TrustWallet users also falling victim to the hack.<\/p>\n

In a tweet<\/a> from the Solana Status Twitter account, engineers studying the hack may have uncovered the root cause of this hack that has \u201cresulted in approximately 8,000 wallets being drained.\u201d Due to the widespread nature of the hack, it\u2019s believed that hackers were able to get into a range of hot wallets by exploiting shared software among these software-based wallets, not code in the Solana system itself. And, worse yet: the hack is ongoing, which means even more wallets are being drained.<\/p>\n

This news is particularly alarming to users who\u2019ve long relied on software-based hot wallets that live on your devices as applications or browser extensions for their convenience. While being able to buy and sell NFTs with just a few taps or clicks does wonders in making the exploration of all things Web3 more accessible and convenient, this particular hack has sparked renewed debates on the long-term viability of web-reliant crypto wallets.<\/p>\n

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Get your #solana<\/a> off hot wallets and onto a hardware wallet to protect yourself from this hack that is happening right now. Over 8000 wallets have been compromised<\/p>\n

\u2014 Heidi (@blockchainchick) August 3, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Several figures in the Web3 space are urging users to practice even more caution than usual. Heidi Chakos, known as blockchainchick in Web3, is one of many Web3 community leaders calling for users to transfer their funds to hardware wallets or cold storage before it\u2019s too late. In a follow-up tweet<\/a>, Chakos also urged users to stay vigilant and avoid interacting with anyone claiming they have solutions to this latest hack.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, blockchain engineers have been continuing their investigation. A Solana Status tweet<\/a> has confirmed that hardware wallets remain safe from the hack, and that users affected by the hack must abandon their compromised wallets immediately.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> This article was updated to explicitly lay out the timeline of initial drains on Solana wallets, confirmation from the blockchain platform, and the running amount of dollars stolen.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n