By
Bhushan Akolkar
July 3rd, 2023
Mr. White Hat, the code name for the hacker who exploited the vulnerability in Poly Network’s system last week, resulting in the largest heist in crypto history has been invited by the blockchain outfit to become its Chief Security Officer.
The turn of events in the hacking of Poly Network which saw more than $600 million stolen from three blockchains including Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum, and Polygon Network has shown the good intentions of Mr. White Hat.
The hacker can be tagged as an ethical hacker, that is, those who discover flaws in an organization’s systems or codes and report them for possible fixing, before malicious actors take advantage of it. In the world of blockchain, a bug bounty program is often organized to permit these ethical hackers to discover any anomaly in the code and for a heavy reward. The classification of Mr. White Hat’s actions as ethical has been contended, albeit, he is the only hacker of record known to return all of the stolen funds, save $200 million that was frozen in an account he controls.
On this backdrop, the Poly Network believes White Hat could be an invaluable addition to the firm in its development of interoperable features for blockchains in the space.
“To extend our thanks and encourage Mr. White Hat to continue contributing to security advancement in the blockchain world together with Poly Network, we cordially invite Mr. White Hat to be the Chief Security Advisor of Poly Network,” the firm said in a statement.
At the time of writing, Mr. White Hat has neither confirmed he will be accepting the role or turning it down.
Poly Network’s $500,000 Bug Bounty Still Stands
The Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocol offered a $500,000 bug bounty to reward Mr. White Hat should he release all the funds. The only condition left to retrieve the $200 million is for the hacker to share the private key to the wallet containing the funds, a move he simply said he will make when “everyone is ready.”
The bounty still remains according to Poly Network, in response to the new comments from the hacker about his willingness to use the reward to support cybersecurity endeavors.
“Poly Network previously promised to reward Mr. White Hat with a $500,000 bug bounty, but he did not accept it and has publicly stated that he has considered offering it to the technical community who have made contributions to blockchain security,” Poly Network said, adding “We fully respect Mr. White Hat’s thoughts, and to express our gratitude, we will still transfer this $500,000 bounty to a wallet address approved by Mr. White Hat for him to use it at his own discretion for the cause of cybersecurity and supporting more projects and individuals.”
Poly Network has highlighted the need to rebrand its security infrastructure in the wake of the attack, to prevent future mishaps.
