Blockchain Cyber Security News | Cyber Security in Blockchain

Axie Infinity network loses £468m in largest ever DeFi hack

Axie Infinity, one of the biggest success stories in the world of blockchain-based gaming, has become the victim of the largest decentralised finance (DeFi) hack in history.

The Pokémon-style NFT battler saw $615 million (£468m) stolen from its Ronin Network – the Ethereum sidechain created to run the game’s transactions – on March 23.

It took a user being unable to withdraw 5,000 ether (£12m) on March 29 for Ronin to realise that 173,600 ether (£448m) and 25.5...

30 March 2022 | Cyber Security

Crypto-based crime outpaced by total market’s growth in 2021

Crypto-based crime hit an all-time high in 2021, but the growth of the digital assets market as a whole far surpassed the rise in illicit activity.

A record $14 billion (£10.4bn) flooded into crypto wallets with criminal associations in 2021, more than doubling from the previous year, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

Whilst this 79% increase may seem substantial, total market transaction volume grew by 567% from 2020’s totals. This leaves...

6 January 2022 | Cyber Security

BitMart begins to resume withdrawals four days after $196m hack

Crypto exchange BitMart resumed Ether withdrawals and deposits in the early morning of December 8, four days after hackers stole $196 million (£148m) of assets.

On December 4, BitMart claimed hackers withdrew $150m (£113m) of crypto in a “large-scale security breach”. However, blockchain analytics firm Peckshield, who first publicised the hack, believe the real figure is closer to $200m (£151m).

In a statement on December 6, the exchange confirmed it had completed...

8 December 2021 | Cryptocurrency

Phishing attack leaves at least 6,000 Coinbase accounts breached

A suspected phishing attack has led to at least 6,000 of Coinbase’s users having cryptocurrency stolen from their accounts.

The Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange sent a breach notification letter to affected customers notifying them of the hack, which is believed who have taken place between March and 20 May this year.

The hackers gained access to users’ email addresses, passwords, and phone numbers, but Coinbase has said they cannot confirm how exactly this data was...

6 October 2021 | Cryptocurrency

Telefónica Tech launch document verification service using blockchain

Telefónica Tech, the Madrid-based telecoms company behind O2 and Vivo, has launched its own blockchain-based document certification service.

The new service utilises Telefónica’s in-house TrustOS platform to generate certificates that combine the digital signature of the user with a trace of the content to be certified, alongside a time stamp to establish the date of certification.

It will allow companies to generate digital evidence of authorship, ownership, and...

2 September 2021 | Blockchain Applications

Is blockchain the key to trust in social media?

The Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018 drew massive attention to the way in which social media companies handle their users’ private data.

At the time, details regarding how Facebook had been providing users' personal information to third parties made the headlines around the globe, and caused the public to think more carefully about what happens to the personal data they offer social media firms.

Since then, it seems that trust in social media companies has...

30 August 2021 | Blockchain Applications

Liquid hit by $100m crypto heist in second major hack this week

Liquid, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, has been hit by a cyberattack that saw $97 million (£71m) stolen from users’ digital wallets.

Liquid said some of its digital currency wallets had been “compromised,” and that hackers were transferring the assets to four different wallets.

“We are currently investigating and will provide regular updates,” Liquid tweeted. “In the meantime deposits and withdrawals will be suspended.”

Although no estimated...

20 August 2021 | Cryptocurrency

Blockchain identity market to grow £2.57bn by 2025

Cambridge Analytica, blockchain and data breaches

Infiniti Research has forecast a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 71% for the global blockchain identity management market from 2021 to 2025.

The marketing research firm’s new report, titled ‘Global Blockchain Identity Management Market 2021-2025’, expects the global market to grow by $3.58 billion (£2.57bn) during the four year period.

The study assumes that the market for blockchain identity management will continuously expand as the growth of cloud...

2 August 2021 | Blockchain Applications

VeriBlock Foundation reveals MESS vulnerability in Ethereum classic blockchain

An Etherum coin next to US dollars and a wallet.

The team behind VeriBlock Blockchain has published details of a critical security vulnerability in Ethereum Classic's MESS protocol, which it disclosed to ETC developers in October 2020, prior to the activation of the consensus technology on the mainnet.

The VeriBlock Blockchain project extends Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work (PoW) security to the world's blockchains in a decentralised, trustless, transparent and permissionless (DTTP) manner.

The team intentionally omitted one...

9 July 2021 | Cyber Security

Blockchain-based Polys introduces new voting methods and usability improvements

Polys, a blockchain-based voting platform from the Kaspersky Innovation Hub, has been enhanced with new voting methods to support common customer requests.

The platform has also been updated with new features for organisers that make election administration and orchestration easier.

Over the past year, various aspects of people’s lives have moved online, including making joint decisions. That has led to the number of sessions on Polys increasing threefold...