Poly Network Hacker Offers to Return the Stolen $600 Million After Saying He Did it For Fun

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The hack

Poly network hacker behind the stealing of over $600 million has promised to return the funds. The hacker said he only took the funds for fun to expose weakness in the network.

Poly Network is a decentralized finance network (DeFI) that allows the transfer of funds between different blockchains. Decentralized finance is a blockchain functionality that allows the development and deployment of various financial solutions. These include; Saving services, lending services, and money transfer services.

The poly network facilitates movements of funds between various wallets when you transact on the cryptocurrencies.

Communication

Previously, there have been attacks on blockchain networks. However, this is the biggest attack on a decentralized finance chain. During a conversation on the dark channels, the hacker suggested they identified flaws in the poly network system hence exploiting it. They are claiming the purpose was to communicate openly without giving the company room for a cover-up.

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Funds Refund

The hackers have already returned some of the funds but are yet to provide keys for the remaining amounts. Several reasons have been cited for the delay but the majority of the analysts believe the hacker is just buying time.

In reaction to the hack, Poly network has confirmed to have made a major upgrade on their network security enabling them to close these backdoor loopholes.

Bug bounty

The poly network has offered a $50,000 bug bounty to hackers upon returning all the funds. A bug bounty is a reward offered to individuals and entities to detect system flaws before potential criminals do. It is a common practice in the tech sector. Many faults detected through this method help mitigate potential future attacks.

White hat

To qualify for bug bounty, Poly network is labeling the hacker as “white hat”. This refers to the ethical hackers who hack into the systems to identify weaknesses. Identifying these weaknesses enable patching to minimize risks.

In response, the hacker is declining the bug bounty. He says the hacking was not meant to earn him money but expose weaknesses in the system.

Most experts believe the hacker could be changing his game after discovering he is gaining more attention than expected. This could lead to his exposure as the funds in the discussion are too much to conceal. Considering blockchain is an open platform, everybody in the network has visibility of the funds’ movement. Hence, it is very difficult to launder such an amount of money without attracting attention.

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Lessons

This occurrence is a reminder of the threats that exist in using these technologies. Blockchain ledger technology makes transactions unanimous and to some extent untraceable. This characteristic has made it a target by criminals who can easily hack and disappear.

Every system has its weaknesses hence blockchain networks are no different. These weaknesses provide the hackers with perfect attack points.

Cyber-attacks are some of the biggest threats facing the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. The possibility of someone erasing all your wealth with a click of a button remains real. This has made some investors shy from investing in these solutions. However, there are expectations that these systems and technologies will get better and safer with time.