A hacker attack on Solana’s blockchain took place on 26 August.
We're aware of some exchanges encountering some issues with deposits and withdrawals of Solana related assets due to the recent network upgrade and are working closely with exchanges to resolve this. We expect this to be resolved shortly.
— Solana (@solana) August 27, 2021
The hacker attack: what happened to Solana
Attackers made use of a 0-day exploit on Solana’s blockchain to attack several crypto exchanges, including Binance and Bitrue, though it is believed that virtually all exchanges that support SPL tokens were actually targeted.
A 0-day exploit is a bug whose nature was previously unknown to anyone except the hackers who discovered it, making it absolutely impossible to prepare in advance for an attack.
The crypto exchange Bitrue published a detailed report on the attack, which was identified and undone in just 20 minutes.
The hackers attempted to merge an orphaned SPL wallet with the exchange’s SOL wallet in order to fool the platform into believing that a deposit of RAY tokens had been made, which in fact had already been withdrawn.
How did this hacker attack function?
The technique used is complex and involved faking deposited RAY tokens being sold for BTC, which were then withdrawn from the exchange.
In the end, the hackers ended up with both the BTC and the RAY tokens apparently sold on their wallets.
Bitrue says that the hacker managed to complete several withdrawals in this way, totalling around $11,700, and that they will cover the loss at their own expense.
Thanks to the rapid intervention, the losses were very limited, especially when compared to similar actions in the past.
In addition, the Solana team provided communication and assistance quickly. In these cases, quick action is essential to minimize problems.
The price of Solana
In the meantime, Solana’s SOL cryptocurrency has continued to rise, even reaching seventh place overall among the most highly capitalized cryptocurrencies on the market. It gained 28% in the last 24 hours alone, 68% in the last week, 252% in the last month, and as much as 2,782% in the last year. Just today it recorded its all-time high at $125.
In short, the hacker attack that was foiled in just 20 minutes, and with minimal losses, failed to stop SOL’s price from rising.
(RAY) Raydium is also on the rise, although still 20% below its all-time high in May.
Bitrue Chief Marketing Officer Adam O’Neill said:
“While cryptocurrency is not the wild west that it used to be, this is a strong reminder that there are many bad-faith actors out there who are always researching novel ways to steal the funds of users and exchanges. At Bitrue we invest heavily in our security processes so that we are always ready to intercept attackers like this, which is why over 4 million traders trust Bitrue with their funds”.
