Polygon Discord Hack Costs User $150,000

Discord Channel Breach and Immediate Response

Today, the Discord channel of Polygon, an Ethereum sidechain, was compromised by hackers. The attackers posted phishing links to deceive users, prompting a swift response from Polygon’s Chief Security Officer, Mehdi Gupta. Gupta alerted users to avoid clicking on any links until further notice.

Details of the Hack

The breach comes just weeks before Polygon’s significant token migration from MATIC to POL, raising concerns about the security of Polygon’s communication channels. Despite the attack, Gupta assured that all accounts with administrative access were protected by two-factor authentication, leaving the exact source of the leak uncertain.

Recovery and Investigation

According to users who witnessed the attack, the hackers posed as genuine support agents and misled users seeking help. They also posted fraudulent links on announcement channels, falsely discussing the upcoming token migration.

Polygon has since regained control of its Discord channel after a two-hour disruption. The team removed all malicious links and disabled external bots and integrations as part of their investigation. Mudit Gupta confirmed the recovery on X, stating:

The server is secured again. We’ll share a post-mortem once we’re done with reviewing everything. https://t.co/NBTvEWYygs

Impact on Users and Token Value

Unfortunately, despite the channel’s recovery and early warnings, at least one user reported a significant loss. The user, identified as “@ValidatorK,” claimed to have lost approximately $143,492 worth of assets after clicking on one of the phishing links. The user’s post highlighted the distress caused by the lack of immediate notification from Polygon about the hack:

“How can I be compensated for the damage caused by not officially notifying me of the hacking? I lost about 120,000 Matic and 30 ETH in a pair of Ethereum pools. It’s so painful and terrible.”

Unfortunately, many responses to this victim’s post were from scammers attempting to exploit the situation further.

Effect on Polygon’s MATIC Token

Despite the hack, Polygon’s native token, MATIC, has not been significantly affected. The token is up 3% in the last 24 hours and has seen a 34% increase over the past week. As of the latest data from CoinMarketCap, MATIC is trading at $0.5424.

Conclusion

The recent hack of Polygon’s Discord channel underscores the vulnerability of social messaging platforms in the crypto space. As Polygon continues to address the security incident and investigate the breach, users are advised to remain cautious and stay informed about any official updates. The incident also highlights the need for enhanced security measures to protect both users and communication channels in the cryptocurrency industry.