An unknown wallet hack has caused a loss of over $10 million worth of crypto tokens and NFTs across different blockchains.
Initially, a crypto user suggested that a MetaMask wallet vulnerability was the cause of the exploit. But in a recent tweet, MetaMask confirmed that although over 5,000 ETH had been drained since the hack began, it was not due to vulnerabilities in the wallet.
Metamask Exonerates Wallet Exploit As Cause Of Lost Funds
The founder of Ethereum wallet manager MyCrypto, Taylor Monahan, tweeted about a wallet hack that amounted to a loss of above $10 million worth of crypto coins and NFTs connected to a MetaMask exploit.
At the beginning of the post, Monahan stated that the hacker used MetaMask to steal from long-time users and employees of MetaMask. Later, Monahan noted that it’s still unclear how the attack was conducted. But from speculation, Monahan suspected the hacker(s) was using old data to extract the funds.
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However, on April 18, the crypto wallet provider MetaMask responded to the thread stating that such information was incorrect. In its response, MetaMask mentioned that a wallet vulnerability did not cause the massive hack.
MetaMask said the 5,000 ETH was drained from different addresses across 11 blockchains, and this means the claim about the funds being exploited due to a MetaMask vulnerability is untrue.
MetaMask disclosed that its security team had been tirelessly investigating the source of the attack. Also, they are joining forces with other teams in the Web3 wallet space to solve the mystery behind the massive hack.
In a speech, Ohm Shah, the co-founder of Wallet Guard, stated that the MetaMask team has been doing continuous research and the details of the hack are still unknown at this point. Shah noted that several other independent security researchers are part of the investigation into the mysterious large-scale hack.
Further, Shah mentioned that though there is no concrete information regarding the loss of digital assets, although some assumptions are coming up. They believed that there could be some private key or seed phrase disclosure.
Monahan later backtracked from their original claim and said that the hack was not linked to MetaMask. This is because the attack impacted users of different wallets, not just MetaMask.
Users Advised To Migrate To Hardware Wallets
Following the hack, a crypto community member, Jacky Goh, stated that crypto users should migrate to hardware wallets. Goh noted that the unidentified hack reminds people to opt for more secure storage for their crypto holdings.
According to Goh, it is better to go for a hardware wallet when users hold over $1,000 worth of assets for over a week. Further adding that this option would save crypto holders in the long run.
Also, Monahan cited that the hack targets private keys created between 2014 and 2022. Moreover, it targets users with multiple addresses.
So, the developer suggested that users whose assets are in a single private key should move or split their funds. Alternatively, they should use a hardware wallet.
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