TL; DR Breakdown
- Ronin Network improves security after hack
- The hack has been tied to the Lazarus group
- The firm breaks down the attack
Ronin Network, in conjunction with Sky Mavis, has announced that they will be taking initiatives to ensure the security on the platforms is beefed up. This latest announcement is coming off the back of the hack that saw malicious actors cart away more than $600 million from the platform. In a statement, the firm noted that it would offer bounties and upgrade its smart contracts asides from ramping up security.
Ronin Network hack tied to Lazarus group
As reported across several media platforms some weeks back, the platform succumbed to the activities of malicious actors in a breach. The platform that houses the popular play-to-earn game, Axie Infinity, suffered losses in digital assets such as Ethereum and USDC, going to $612 million. In the first week of this month, the FBI released a statement pointing in the direction of the famous crypto hacker Lazarus as the culprit in the case.
Further details showed that the hack was carried out to warn other firms in the crypto sector with less than impressive security. Lazarus has been known to have ties to North Korea, with the country sponsoring every group activity. Ronin Network gave the update in a post that it made, citing that it is currently going through the process of refunding traders.
The breakdown of the hack
A deep look into how the attack was carried out showed that an ex-employee of Sky Mavis was phished. Using the details of the former employee, the hackers got hold of four major nodes out of the total nine that were under the company’s control. Although the hacker could not carry out any act with that, he soon found a door to breach using the backchannel of the RPC node, which would not require gas.
With this, the hacker could get his hands on the validator nodes. According to the company, the breached DAO had been there since the period that the Sky Mavis system was overloaded and asked them to help with transactions. Although it was disabled in 2021, reports claimed the list was not destroyed. Presently, both companies will look inward and make a few changes to their security.
Ronin is looking forward to operating its bridge next month as Binance has taken up the burden of helping it facilitate transactions. Ronin Network mentioned that it was almost done with the upgrade process. Sky Mavis has announced that it will employ security experts that will help ensure its security measures are tightened.
