ChainBleedv0.1 · open intel
← back to feed·ETHPRIVATE-KEY2020-12-21 · 5y ago
Incident · SLOWMIST

EXMO

Wallet Stolen
Estimated loss
$10.50M
VERDICT —OUT OF SCOPE
Root cause is private-key / signer compromise — the on-chain contract behaved exactly as written. No pre-deployment source audit or bytecode review reaches the key-custody perimeter; this is operational-security territory (HSM/MPC hygiene, key rotation, hot-wallet isolation). Bytecode would show nothing wrong.
▰ METHOD
PRIVATE KEY
PRIVATE-KEY
Root cause

Root-cause analysis not yet published. The incident description below contains all currently available signal — review the attack transaction directly for definitive forensics.

Forensic narrative

A major security breach in the British cryptocurrency exchange Exmo has caused the platform to freeze all withdrawals. Since EXMO has a separate server for each cryptocurrency, the hacking only affected six cryptocurrencies, BTC, XRP, ZEC, USDT, ETC, and ETH, and the affected assets were equivalent to 6% of the company's total assets. According to The Block research analyst Igor Igamberdiev, EXMO seems to have lost $10.5 million in funds. The exchange provided a list of stolen coins and their addresses, and analysis showed that most of the funds had been sent to Poloniex. The lost coins include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, Ethereum Classic (ETC), Tether (USDT) and Zcash (ZEC).It was reported on December 25 that the hackers who attacked Exmo had withdrawn $4 million of stolen funds through Poloniex. Attack method (per SlowMist): Wallet Stolen. Reported loss: $ 10,500,000.

Primary source
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2020/12/22/exmo-exchange-now-says-it-lost-6-of-total-crypto-assets-in-mondays-hack/
Sourced from
slowmist
Technical record
chain
ethereum
protocol
EXMO
bug_class
private-key
date_occurred
2020-12-21
loss_usd
$10,500,000
source_id
sm:exmo::2020-12-21
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