The night of August 2, 2022, witnessed a shocking incident when some unidentified hackers managed to get their hands on more than 8,000 “hot” Solana wallets.
The hackers breached the Solona ecosystem and took away investors’ funds from the internet-connected “hot” wallets like Slope, Phantom, and TrustWallet. Several users reported that their funds have been drained without their action or knowledge.
It is being said that this attack took place due to certain loopholes in the wallet software and not the Solana blockchain. Tom Robinson, the founder of Solana’s blockchain forensic firm – Elliptic – said, “the main reason for the attack is still isn’t clear. However, it appears to be due to a flaw in certain wallet software, instead of the Solana blockchain itself.”
In the wake of the attack, Solana’s token, SOL, witnessed a steep fall of around 7.3%. On Wednesday morning, Solana’s token was trading at $38.40 which is the token’s lowest value in a week.
In an official statement, Slope confirmed that the wallets of its users were compromised. Not only this, but even the founders and staff members of Slope lost their funds in the security breach. The Slope team is conducting their investigation on the matter.
Similarly, Phanton- the largest hot wallet of Solana – is also investigating the batter. In an official statement made to Coindesk, their team confirmed that they don’t believe this to be a “Phantom-specific issue as of now.”
While the major reason for this security breach remains a mystery, it has raised several questions about the safety and reliability of hot crypto wallets.
