A recent $270 million hack on the Drift Protocol has been described as “terrifying” by Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko. The attack, which is believed to be carried out by a North Korean state-affiliated threat group, was a sophisticated social engineering assault.
The hackers used this tactic over six months to gain the trust of Drift contributors and onboard an Ecosystem Vault, depositing $1 million of their own capital into the protocol. They posed as a legitimate trading firm with verifiable professional backgrounds and technical fluency.
Through multiple working sessions and in-person meetings at international conferences, the attackers maintained the illusion of a trusted business relationship. Even one contributor cloned a shared code repository containing a known vulnerability, unknowingly downloading malicious software.
The successful exploit was carried out without leaving any digital trail, as the hackers scrubbed their Telegram chats and wiped the malware after the hack was complete. This highlights the significant threat posed by state-sponsored actors in the DeFi ecosystem.
Source: https://www.tradingview.com/news/u_today:e466b255c094b:0-terrifying-solana-founder-reacts-to-one-of-biggest-defi-hacks-in-history