Binance Uncovers Two Suspects Tied to KyberSwap $265K Hack

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has identified two suspects who may be responsible for the theft of $265,000 from decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol KyberSwap in an exploit earlier this week. 

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) disclosed the findings on Twitter today, noting that the company has shared the intel with KyberSwap and the appropriate law enforcement agencies. 

KyberSwap Suffers Frontend Attack

On September 1, the DEX protocol suffered a frontend security breach, allowing hackers to steal assets worth thousands of dollars from users. 

According to the project, the attackers launched a malicious code on the protocol’s Google Tag Manager (GTM), prompting false approval that allowed them to move funds to their wallets. 

The KyberSwap team disclosed that the hackers discreetly launched the bad script targeting whale wallets on Ethereum and Polygon. KyberSwap further noted that affected users would be fully compensated.

The attack was discovered and stopped within two hours of launch. The protocol also disclosed that the exploiters would be rewarded with a 15% bug bounty if they returned the stolen funds. 

Crypto’s Big Brother

Barely two days after the incident, the Binance security team said they had been able to track down and identify two hackers who may be responsible for the heist. The company said it had involved government authorities in the matter for further investigation. 

#Binance security team has identified two suspects for yesterday’s KyberSwap hack. We have provided the intel to the Kyber team, and are coordinating with LE (law enforcement).

Stay #SAFU. https://t.co/tbQBGaGTNG

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) September 3, 2022

Like KyberSwap, Binance has helped several hacked protocols identify the attackers or recover some stolen funds. 

Last month, the company recovered $450,000 stolen from the DeFi platform Curve Finance. The recovered funds represent around 83% of the total assets drained from the protocol.  The exchange said the hackers transferred the assets to the exchange using different techniques, hoping to bypass the firm’s security team. 

As Binance continues to put effort into making the crypto industry safer for investors, some members of the crypto community believe the company is now playing a “big brother” role in the space.