International law enforcement agencies have joined the investigation to find the attackers behind the Orbit chain.
Orbit Chain is a cross-chain protocol that facilitates cryptocurrency transactions between Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible networks and Klaytn. In 2018, the protocol was founded by a South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur.
On December 31, 2023, Orbit Chain suffered a hacking attack. An unknown actor accessed the Orbit chain and exfiltrated nearly $81.6 million worth of cryptocurrency assets from the protocol.
On January 1, 2024, Orbit Chain reported this incident and warned Orbit Chain users to stay away from the fake Orbit Chain
So far, security experts are investigating the incident to identify the path that helped the attackers breach the protocol.
To freeze stolen funds, the Orbit chain team has asked all major global cryptocurrency exchanges to freeze funds if an attacker attempts to transfer funds through their platforms.
In addition to the private security investigation, the Orbital Chain team also received support from international enforcement agencies to catch the culprits in this incident.
The protocol team is working on a plan to provide compensation to all affected users, but has confirmed that this will take time.
Individual cryptocurrency investigators have stated that 2024 began with this massive hacking attack, perhaps a very big hint that malicious actors will continue to drain billions of dollars from the sector this year as well.
In 2023, cryptocurrency hackers and fraudsters made nearly $1.8 billion from this sector by attacking cryptocurrency web3 platforms and Defi protocols. Most of the stolen funds were found to be linked to the North Korean government-backed hacking group Lazarus.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, hackers targeted cryptocurrency exchanges Poloniex, HTX (formerly Huobi Global), and Heco Chain. Hackers stole more than $200 million from these platforms, all three of which are owned by Justin Sun, a well-known cryptocurrency entrepreneur.
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