Ronin recently disclosed that its network was hacked on March 23, 2022 resulting in a crypto heist attack.
The Ronin network announced the heist attack news on its Twitter handle on March 29, 2022. The tweet stated that crypto hackers exploited $625 million in Ethereum and USDC coins, which have been considered the largest ever DeFi exploit in history.
The Ronin Network’s Background
The Ronin network is a layer two Ethereum blockchain designed to ensure the smooth operation of games such as Axie Infinity, a non-fungible (NFT) online game.
Sky Mavis, the company in charge of Axie Infinity, owned by Trung Nguyen, created the Ronin network.
The network, on the other hand, allows players to exchange the digital coins earned in Axie infinity and other decentralized applications.
How Did the Ronin Crypto Heist Happen?
The crypto heist attack happened when the Ronin team discovered and received a report that one of its users was unable to withdraw 5,000 Ethereum from its bridge.
According to the Ronin network, the cryptocurrency hackers got access to five private keys used in validating transactions from the network. On March 23, 2022 the hackers were able to forge false withdrawals, causing the Ronin bridge to lose 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5 million USDC in two transactions. Currently, majority of the funds are still in the hacker’s wallet, but the identity of the hackers is still unknown.
Furthermore, analysts from our partner, Blockchain Intelligence Group discovered that the vast majority of the funds stolen had been transferred to popular exchanges such as Huobi, Crypto.com and FTX.
In response to this, Huobi exchange has assured that they would assist axie infinity. “Huobi will fully support @AxieInfinity as it deals with the aftermath of the attack and theft on its Ronin chain,” the platform tweeted. “Any stolen crypto assets that have been discovered to have traversed our exchange and related networks will be dealt with expediently.”
In another news, Axie Infinity co-founder, Aleksander Larsen, attributed the Ronin crypto heist to a case of social engineering attack combined with human error from December, 2021.
Action Taken to Protect Ronin Network Users After the Crypto Heist
The Ronin network took to its Twitter handle on March 29, 2022 to address its followers. According to a tweet, the Ronin Network is currently working with law enforcement officials, investors, forensics cryptographers like Chain Analysis and Binance Labs to ensure all lost funds are recovered or reimbursed.
In the latest development, the layer two blockchain network released two new features to the Ronin wallet.
The first feature allows users to import just a private key to the Ronin wallet. The second features is the ledger support. The Ledger support allows users to use the ledger hardware wallet with the Ronin Chrome extension.
Also, Axie Infinity co-founder, Aleksander Larsen, added that their internal network is undergoing a critical forensics investigation to ensure there’s no continuing threat.
OFAC Includes an Address included in the Ronin Crypto Heist to the SDN List
On April 14, 2022 OFAC added a new ETH address to Lazarus Group’s SDN entry as an identifier: 0x098B716B8Aaf21512996dC57EB0615e2383E2f96. According to a tweet post by Chainalysis, the address was involved in the Ronin hack, having received 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC from the Ronin Bridge smart contract during the attack.
Conclusion
The Ronin Network Crypto Heist which happens to be the largest crypto heist in history is a wake-up call for Cryptocurrency Exchanges. This implies that with the increase in cybercrimes, cryptocurrency exchange hacks, wallet hacks etc, cryptocurrency businesses firms and exchanges must be more aware of cyber security practices and implement compliance policies to protect its users.
A&D Forensics also provides training services for cryptocurrency exchanges on how to stay safe and keep bad actors away from their platforms. In addition,our subscribers are updated on regulatory insights and criminal cases happening in the ecosystem within the week.
