Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, claimed on Friday that it had been hacked, putting the scale of the theft at around $100 million.
According to Binance, the hackers managed to withdraw a total of 2 million BNB, the cryptocurrency issued by Binance, or regarding $580 million during Friday. However, they were only able to exploit a fraction of it, the majority of the amount having been immediately blocked.
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“We managed to limit the damage to less than $100 million,” Binance boss Changpeng Zhao, better known by the pseudonym “CZ,” told CNBC.
Earlier in the day, he had tried to reassure his community of users by assuring on Twitter, where he has 7 million subscribers: “The problem is now under control”.
“Your funds are safe. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly,” CZ added.
In a publication on the Reddit site, Binance also clarified that of the total amount actually stolen, approximately $7 million had been frozen.
The hackers targeted the BSC Token Hub cross-chain bridge. A bridge is a service that allows a user to transfer cryptographic tokens from one blockchain to another.
The Binance Smart Chain (BSC) blockchain to which the bridge targeted by the hackers is linked was suspended following the hack before being reinstated a few hours later.
Computer attacks once morest inter-chain bridges have multiplied in recent months.
In August, hackers stole the equivalent of $190 million by exploiting a flaw in the Nomad bridge.
According to Chainanalysis, $2 billion was stolen via 13 cross-chain bridge hacks between January and August.
These attacks represent 69% of cryptocurrency thefts in 2022, indicates Chainanalysis.
Elliptic, another cryptocurrency analytics firm, noted in its quarterly hack report released this week that bridges “tend to accumulate large amounts of locked assets across many blockchains, many of which may not have be no advanced security or audit culture due to their relative obscurity”.
This makes bridges “an attractive target for cybercriminals,” Elliptic adds.
Experts believe that bridges are particularly targeted by hackers linked to terrorist groups or dictatorial regimes, including North Korea.
