Atomic Wallet Hack Results in $35 Million Loss as Investigation Continues
Atomic Wallet users have reported losing millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency. It was announced on June 3 that the project had been compromised and it would be investigating the vulnerability as soon as possible.
On Twitter, several accounts reported that the contents of their wallets had been stolen, causing widespread alarm in the cryptocurrency community. It has been reported that users of Atomic Wallet have lost cryptocurrency worth millions of dollars. The project was compromised on June 3, and the vulnerability would be investigated immediately.
“This is seriously scary,” tweeted DeFi researcher Ignas. “Atomic wallet, despite being around for years, still gets hacked.”
Over 5 million people are estimated to have downloaded Atomic Wallet’s cryptocurrency wallet. Atomic Wallet was initially launched by Konstantin Gladych in 2017.
A spokesperson for Atomic Wallet said the attack’s method could not be confirmed. However, the company is working with several security firms and has contacted organisations that can assist in finding the stolen funds.
An investigation is currently being conducted in cooperation with leading security firms. It is the team’s responsibility to investigate possible attack vectors. No confirmation has yet been received. Currently, the support team is collecting the addresses of victims.
On Twitter, some accounts reported that they had been able to move their funds to a different wallet before the exploit was discovered. Others also lamented the loss of cryptocurrency.
Due to Atomic Wallet’s encryption, users’ private keys are not accessible to the service, which is largely why it’s so secure. Earlier this year, auditing firm Least Authority criticised Atomic Wallet, claiming it is “insufficiently secure in protecting private data and user assets.”
ZachXBT, the pseudonymous blockchain sleuth, has identified over $35 million worth of stolen funds as of Sunday. Tether was lost by one victim worth $8 million, ZachXBT said. Among the decentralised exchanges, CoinGecko reports that AWC has fallen over 13% to $0.22 over the past 24 hours. Over 96% of the price dropped since May 2021, when it peaked at $7.26. ZachXBT added that nearly half of the stolen funds were lost in the five biggest losses from the compromised account.
Some funds may be recoverable from the Atomic Wallet exploit. ZachXBT, with the help of Buffalu, the CEO of Jito Labs and an employee of MEV Infrastructure Company, successfully rescued $1 million worth of funds. In a statement made via Twitter, Buffalu confirmed that disclosing the method used by the team to recover funds could result in further loss for other victims. Although the solution is hoped to benefit others, it is not certain.
“I’m glad Zach [messaged] me, and we could get together a fast solution,” Buffalu said, saying it’s meaningful to “help to at least help one person, maybe more.” He added that the hack is “very terrible for all the victims involved.”
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