In the recent news, hackers have stolen $100 million in cryptocurrency from Harmony’s blockchain bridge called Horizon, in the latest major heist in the space of decentralized finance. Upon investigating the attack, Harmony has singled out an individual account it believes to be the culprit. “We have begun working with national authorities and forensic specialists to identify the culprit and retrieve the stolen funds,” the start-up said in a tweet late Wednesday.
1/ The Harmony team has identified a theft occurring this morning on the Horizon bridge amounting to approx. $100MM. We have begun working with national authorities and forensic specialists to identify the culprit and retrieve the stolen funds.
More ?
— Harmony ? (@harmonyprotocol) June 23, 2022
Furthermore, in a follow-up tweet, Harmony stated it’s working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and multiple cybersecurity firms to investigate the attack. Blockchain bridges play a major role in the DeFi space, offering users a way of transferring their assets from one blockchain to another. In the case of Harmony’s blockchain bridge, Horizon, users can send tokens from the Ethereum network to Binance Smart Chain.
Harmony’s Blockchain Bridge for Bitcoin Was Not Affected
Harmony said the attack did not impact a separate bridge for bitcoin.
Like other aspects of DeFi, which seeks to overhaul traditional financial services like loans and investments on the blockchain, bridges have become a prime target for hackers due to vulnerabilities present in their underlying source code. Bridges “maintain large stores of liquidity,” making them a “tempting target for hackers,” according to Jess Symington, research lead at blockchain analysis firm Elliptic.
One Investor Had Previously Raised Concerns About Horizon’s Security
“In order for individuals to use bridges to move their funds, assets are locked on one blockchain and unlocked, or minted, on another,” Symington said. “As a result, these services hold large volumes of crypto assets.” Harmony has not revealed exactly how the funds were stolen from the blockchain bridge Horizon. However, one investor had raised concerns about the security of its Horizon bridge as far back as April.
“This incident is a humbling and unfortunate reminder of how our work is paramount to the future of this space, and how much of our work remains ahead of us,” the blog post said. “Ongoing investigations present a challenge of what information is allowed to be shared with the public, but we will continue to provide updates with the latest information as soon as we are able to share.”
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