$ 100 million stolen in Harmony Protocol hack

This new hack in the crypto universe adds a little more distrust to the solidity of some of the technological infrastructure used in the ecosystem. The group behind the Harmony program was the victim of an attack on Wednesday that allowed hackers to steal $ 100 million. There are technical bridges (“bridges”) to allow the circulation of cryptocurrencies between different blockchains. This is the bridge created by Horizon, Harmony, which allowed the circulation of assets between the Ethereum blockchain and the Binance Smart Chain, which were exploited by the attackers.

Developed in 2017, the Harmony protocol is designed to facilitate the creation and use of decentralized applications. These “peer-to-peer” applications provide loans and other financial services without the need for “traditional” intermediaries or centralized actors. Built on top of or with (blockchain) other blockchains, it enables faster transactions at a lower cost.

But many hacking cases show the weakness of some of these “bridges” needed to operate between major blockchains. That too via a bridge last March, More than $ 620 million was stolen by North Korean hackers on Ron’s networkOne of the biggest thefts in young crypto history.

One billion dollars has already been stolen

Harmony tweeted “Worked with national authorities and blockchain data analysts to identify the culprit and recover the stolen funds“It also indicates that a suspicious personal account has been identified.

According to Elliptic, a blockchain data analytics firm, criminals stole various cryptocurrencies piled up on Harmony’s Horizon Bridge, including ether, tether and USD coins, which were later converted into gold.

These bridges have become the main target of hackers. Bridges “Maintain large cash reserves“, it is a “Attractive target for hackers“According to Jess Simminton, analyst of the ellipse. Besides Ronin, another famous bridge, the Wormhole, stole more than $ 320 million in February. According to the elliptical, $ 1 billion has already been stolen from the bridges by 2022.

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