Solana hacked. $ 6 million has disappeared from wallets

Solana hacked. The network has just been attacked by hackers. Users lost $ 6 million. Cryptocurrency has been stolen from internet wallets. Project representatives are calling for funds to be transferred to secure hardware wallets, because they have no idea yet how the hackers managed to steal the deposits.

Break-ins into exchanges and cryptocurrency wallets are nothing new in this industry. Usually, however, security teams notice their mistake immediately and the "hole" is patched immediately. 

This time, however, is different. From users' private wallets the Solana network approximately $ 6 million has disappeared, but it is not known yet where the gap is. It caused panic reactions from some cryptocurrency holders. Or rather, former holders, because some wallets have been cleared to zero. 

Cryptocurrencies disappeared because their owners were gambling?

It should be noted that the developers themselves warned against the attack. One of the creators of the Solana ecosystem was the first to do so @SolportTomwho wrote on Twitter:

“Transactions look like normal transfers, not contract transfers. This goes for the whole ecosystem, people are speculating that it has to do with the gambling service. "

So he suggested that the leak occurred when some cryptocurrencies were donated to dubious gambling sites. 

Others, in turn, immediately linked the hack to the owners of the Phantom wallet, but the company just as quickly denied such claims.

"We are working closely with other teams to get to the bottom of a reported gap in the Solana ecosystem" Phantom reported in a message. "At the moment the team does not believe that this is a problem with our products" - underlined.

The web is full of speculation about possible gaps and the causes of theft. Crypto Twitter user and developer @ 0xfoobar has his own theory. It combines the attack with the takeover of the private key, regardless of what wallet the cryptocurrencies were stored on. According to him, this applies to both the Phantom and Slope wallets, which adds credibility to Phantom's claims.

"The solution is to move resources to a wallet that never revealed the private key to potentially vulnerable browser extensions," he argues in his post. "That means hardware wallets, nothing more," he emphasizes emphatically.

Safe cryptocurrencies? Only in a cold wallet

Either way, official routes for money leakage are not yet known. So Solana users were advised to transfer all their cryptocurrency to a hardware wallet. If someone does not have it, it is better to send the funds even to a trusted one for now Cryptocurrency exchangesthan to keep them in Solana. At least until the vulnerability is fixed, which of course the developers will immediately take care of.

How not to lose your cryptocurrencies

Let us remember that the problem most often does not lie in technology, but in the weakness of the human factor. A large part of the cryptocurrency market scams are the voluntarily (usually unconscious) transfer of passwords, or even depositing cryptocurrencies directly into the scammer's wallet. 

First and foremost, let's be careful about social media. On July 15, 2020, hackers managed to hijack some 130 known Twitter accounts, including famous celebrities, politicians, and businessmen such as: Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Bill Gates or Kim Kardashian. They then wrote to followers to send cryptocurrencies to a specific address, promising to double all donations and donate money to charity. It took a moment (because it was quickly realized that it was a scam) for the thief's account to receive 121. USD. 

So let's not count on miracles and giving away money. Neither for 100% of the profit every week and other promises, advertised with the face of a famous person.

We also never give anyone access to our wallet or private key. NIkomu do not need them to make a transfer, confirm a transaction or anything else. If someone asks for them, they definitely want to steal your crypto. 

These are the basics, but - as you can see - you can never recall too much.

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