“We are working with national authorities and forensic specialists to identify the culprit and retrieve the stolen funds,” Harmony said of the theft from its Horizon bridge, which allows users to exchange coins from multiple blockchains. Harmony later said it is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and cybersecurity firms to investigate the attack.
DeFi Blockchain Bridges For Cross Chain Token Transactions Vulnerable According to Cybersecurity Experts
As more cryptocurrencies are adopted and users become more comfortable making transfers, Harmony and other blockchain bridges were developed to accept multiple tokens. Horizon offers cross-chain exchanges between Ethereum and Binance. Cybercriminals tend to target bridges as they are particularly vulnerable to attack, with $1.3 billion stolen from bridges in the first three months of the year, according to researcher Chainalysis. The attacks on Crypto.com in January, Wormhole in February, and Ronin Network in March each resulted in multimillion-dollar losses. Decentralized finance platforms, or DeFi, are often targeted by hackers for their weak security, according to cybersecurity experts.
Typically, DeFi services are built on public blockchains, allowing users to exchange crypto back and forth without the need for a bank or credit union. Hackers in April stole $182 million from DeFi service Beanstalk Farms. A blockchain security company in China said thieves used a “flash loan” to exploit Beanstalk’s security flaws. Flash loans are unsecured loans that do not require collateral from the borrower and require repayment by the end of the transaction – usually within seconds.
Via this site Hackers swipe $100 million in cryptocurrency from blockchain bridge Harmony β CBS News