Last Wednesday, someone drained funds from multiple cryptocurrency wallets connected to the BadgerDAO decentralized finance platform.
According to analytics by data security firm Blockchain Peckshield, which works with Badger to investigate theft, the value of the privileged accounts stolen in the attack was about $120 million.
While the investigation is ongoing, members of Badger's team have told users that they believe the hacker's method was to insert a malicious script into the user interface of their website, which made that program intercept transactions from users and insert a request to transfer the victim's account codes to the address chosen by the attacker.
Beckshield notes that one transfer resulted in 896 bitcoins being withdrawn to the attacker's vaults, valued at more than $50 million.
According to the team, the malicious code first appeared on November 10, with attackers running it at seemingly random intervals to avoid detection.
Decentralized finance systems, or as it is called "DeFi" for short, rely on blockchain technology, to allow cryptocurrency holders to conduct typical financing operations such as earning interest by lending.
Badger promises users on its site that they can "rest in the knowledge that you never have to give up private keys to your cryptocurrency, can withdraw anytime you want, and our strategy works day and night to power your assets."
Once Badger became aware of the unauthorized transfers, it paused all smart contracts, essentially shutting down its platform, and advised users to reject all transactions they received.
It is still not known what money can be recovered, and how those affected will be compensated, but for anyone living in the world of crypto, blockchain, and “Web3” applications, they may eventually have to figure out how approvals and signatures work and monitor and not give security to platforms Cryptocurrency wallets, especially when multi-million dollar holdings disappear in an instant even while being managed by “one of the most powerful security teams in the field of information security,” Badger claims on its site.