Atomic Wallet Security Breach Results In $35 Million Crypto Heist

Millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen from customers of Atomic Wallet. On Saturday, the project’s developers admitted that their users’ data had been compromised.

Atomic Wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet that works on both mobile devices and desktop computers. Multiple platforms, including Windows, Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux, support the wallet.

Atomic Wallet Hack: How Much Was Lost?

Yesterday, the developers of the multichain wallet took to Twitter to announce that they had received reports of account compromises from a small number of users.

Over a hundred addresses were compromised, and assets from Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, BSC, Cardano, Ripple, Polkadot, Cosmos, Algorand, Avalanche, Litecoin, and Dogecoin were taken.

Early indications point to around $35 million was lost.

The largest single loss amounts to $7.95 million USDT. According to on-chain detective ZachXBT, the five largest losses total $17 million.

 

Early Warning Signs

Since users’ private keys are encrypted and saved locally on their devices, Atomic Wallet believes this makes their product more secure. However, the latest incident proves otherwise.

In fact, the vulnerability of the wallet was evident since February 2021. That year, auditing company Least Authority raised warning flags, saying Atomic Wallet is “insufficiently secure in protecting user assets and private data.”

Twitter users have also alleged that funds on the Atomic Wallet app had previously been stolen. In reaction to the post, one person wrote:

“This happened to my BTC six months ago with Atomic. They simply replied back to protect your pw, seed phrase, blah blah… My response to them, I will use U no MORE then! Now I was right!”

“This is seriously scary,” DeFi researcher Ignas tweeted. “Despite Atomic Wallet’s long history, it is still vulnerable to hacking.”

Liquidity Problems & Criticisms

Recently, Atomic Wallet has been slammed for offering $BEN token, the meme coin established by “BitBoy,” Ben Armstrong, and for the liquidity problems of its native token, Atomic Wallet Coin (AWC), which fell by 8% today.

Atomic Wallet is currently surveying victims, inquiring as to their operating system, software download location, last actions prior to cryptocurrency theft, and backup phrase storage location.

In order to identify potential attack vectors, the wallet service provider said that it is collaborating with leading security firms.

The investigating team has not been able to confirm anything as of yet.

-Featured image from DayFR Euro

Source: https://bitcoinist.com/atomic-wallet-security-breached/

Stay up to date

on all important crypto news!

The most important news, once a week. No spam.