According to a blockchain security company called PeckShield, utilising on-chain data from EtherScan, an assault using the vanity-address generator dubbed Profanity resulted in the theft of about $950,000 in cryptocurrency.
A cryptocurrency address created by its users that has certain criteria is known as a “vanity address.” Because these addresses are human-generated rather than being a machine-generated random string of letters and numbers, they are more susceptible to brute force attacks, as GitHub users discovered earlier this year.
According to a tweet from blockchain security company PeckShield, the hackers took 732 $ETH on September 25 before transferring the funds to the US government-approved crypto mixer Tornado Cash.
The attack is similar to the recent $160 million attack on Wintermute, a cryptocurrency market maker.
On September 20, Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy tweeted that the attack was “likely linked to the Profanity-type exploit of our DeFi trading wallet.”
The hackers responsible for the Wintermute attack have yet to be identified, and no funds have been recovered. The company has offered a $16 million bounty for the funds’ return.
The Blockgeni Editorial Team tracks the latest developments across artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning and data engineering. Our editors monitor hundreds of sources daily to surface the most relevant news, research and tutorials for developers, investors and tech professionals. Blockgeni is part of the SKILL BLOCK Group of Companies.
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