Up to $5 million worth of Solana and USDC cryptocurrency coins were stolen from about 8,000 wallets after the popular blockchain platform was intruded on by cyber criminals. According to experts, the attack was initiated from Phantom, a Solana browser wallet.
Their website describes the Solana blockchain platform as one of the fastest-growing decentralised cryptocurrency ecosystems worldwide. Furthermore, the platform boasts its ultra-fast network speed and censorship-resistant feature, with low cost for both users and developers.
Seed phrases and user keys were compromised and reused by the hackers on different chains during the attack. Fortunately, a representative confirmed that users’ hardware wallets were safe from being compromised.
The attack could have been caused by a flaw in one wallet software rather than from the end of the Solana blockchain.
The blockchain platform’s representative added that the attack’s root cause has not yet been identified, although they believe that it could have occurred from a flaw in a third-party wallet software and not directly from Solana.
An initial analysis showed that more than $5.2 million worth of cryptocurrency coins were emptied from about 5,000 digital wallets of investors worldwide. However, from a tweet shared by Solana’s Twitter account, they confirmed that 8,000 wallets are the supposed targeted number of the attack.
Furthermore, the analysis also revealed that the targeted currencies of the attack are SOL, SL, and many other Solana-based coins found on Phantom and Slope digital browser wallets.
It was also seen from the incident investigations that the illegal transactions were signed by the real owners of the crypto wallets, hence implying that threat actors used people’s private keys to pose as real account owners to steal their assets.
The unprecedented waves of cyberattacks happening against the cryptocurrency community worried many digital asset investors. Many Solana traders have expressed their thoughts on Twitter after the cyberattack hits the platform, with most calling for a short position.
The blockchain platform also faced its lowest this week due to the incident, with its SOL coin plummeting at 7.3% and trading at about $38.40.
