By
staff writer
April 15th, 2024
The Ronin Network is currently working with government agencies to apprehend all involved in the hack.
It appears like the largest crypto hack yet has happened, involving the Ronin Network, which backs popular Axie Infinity. Despite that there have been a lot of hack incidents over time, the Ronin Network attack could be the biggest crypto heist of all time. Confirming the security breach, Ronin Network noted the loss of 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5M USDC, totaling more than $615 million, from the Ronin bridge. In the Newsletter, Ronin revealed that its validators had been compromised and included the details of the attack.
Ronin Network Announces Hack
The security breach occurred on March 23rd, after which it placed a halt on the Ronin bridge and Katana DEX. While announcing the hack, Ronin Network stated that Sky Mavis’s Ronin validator nodes and Axie DAO validator nodes were compromised. As a result, the attacker was able to drain the ETH and USDC in two transactions. Explaining further, the Network explained that the hacker used private keys to fake withdrawals. Eventually, a user who could not withdraw “5k ETH from the bridge” reported the situation to Ronin Network.
The Network hack was successful because the attacker could get hold of four Ronin Validators and another validator by Axie DAO. The company wrote:
“The validator key scheme is set up to be decentralized so that it limits attack vector, similar to this one, but the attacker found a backdoor through our gas-free RPC node, which they abused to get the signature for the Axie DAO validators.”
In the Newsletter, Robin Network highlights the action it has taken in response to the hack. The Network addressed the attack and is taking active steps against similar incidents that may occur in the future. To heighten security and prevent more damage, the team has increased the validator threshold from five to eight. Ronin Network has also reached out to security teams of some exchanges, and it will contact more soon. In addition, Robin Network said it is in the process of migrating its nodes, which is not together with its old infrastructure.
Ronin Partners with Government Agencies to Recover Stolen Funds
Furthermore, the Ronin Network is currently working with government agencies to apprehend all involved in the hack.
“We have temporarily paused the Ronin Bridge to ensure no further attack vectors remain open. Binance has also disabled their bridge to/from Ronin to err on the side of caution. The bridge will be opened up at a later date once we are certain no funds can be drained,” the Network added.