Polygon Discord Server Recovers from Hack After $145K Theft, Prepares for POL token Launch
Polygon’s Discord server recently experienced a three-hour hijack orchestrated by hackers who targeted the project’s community channel. The breach involved scammers impersonating support agents and sharing malicious links with the community. However, the issue has been resolved, according to Polygon’s Chief Information Security Officer, Mudit Gupta.
The attack came to light when members of the Polygon community noticed suspicious activities on the channel. The hackers flooded the support channel with scam links while pretending to be helpful agents. An alert community member took to social media to warn others about the potential breach by sharing the deceptive tactics used in the support channel.
Despite efforts to address the breach, some users fell victim to the scam. One user, known as “ValidatorK,” reported a loss of $150,000 in Ether (ETH) after following what appeared to be an official announcement posted on the Discord channel.
Concerns Over Polygon’s Security Protocols
Following the breach, questions have arisen regarding Polygon’s security measures, despite Gupta’s assurance that all privileged accounts have two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled. The incident occurred as Polygon prepares for a significant network upgrade, including the launch of a new token, POL, scheduled for September 4.
Discord hacks have become prevalent, particularly within the cryptocurrency community where Discord serves as a primary communication platform. These incidents highlight the growing cyber threats faced by crypto projects and the need for robust security protocols.
Earlier this year, similar breaches occurred on other crypto platforms. In March, the Arbitrum Discord server was compromised, allowing hackers to insert a phishing link in the official channel. In May, Gnus.AI’s Discord server was hacked, resulting in a loss of approximately $1.27 million.
Decline in Illicit crypto Transactions in 2024
A recent report by Chainalysis revealed a decrease in overall illicit cryptocurrency transactions in 2024, despite a surge in specific criminal activities within the sector. The mid-year crypto crime update, released on August 15, highlighted the growing prevalence of hacking and ransomware attacks.
Two categories, stolen funds through hacking and ransomware attacks, saw an increase in activity. The cumulative value of stolen cryptocurrencies reached $1.58 billion by the end of July, an 84% rise compared to the same period in 2023.
While hacking incidents only slightly increased by 2.8% year-over-year, the average value stolen per hack saw a significant surge. In July alone, hackers pilfered around $266 million through 16 separate breaches, causing substantial losses to the crypto sector.
One notable incident was the July 18 attack on Indian crypto exchange WazirX, which contributed over $230 million, or 86.4%, to the total losses for the month.
