CZ Breaks Silence on Trust Wallet Hack: Are Your Crypto Funds Safe?

Published 8 hours ago2 minute read
David Isong
David Isong
CZ Breaks Silence on Trust Wallet Hack: Are Your Crypto Funds Safe?

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has issued a strong assurance regarding the security of user funds following a significant hack affecting the Trust Wallet Browser Extension. Zhao confirmed that funds are "SAFU," indicating that affected users will be fully reimbursed using Binance's internal treasury. This commitment comes after a sophisticated theft that initially saw estimates of stolen cryptocurrency at $2.8 million, a figure later revised upward to a staggering $6 million by security firm PeckShield, with further analysis suggesting the total could reach $7 million.

The core of the vulnerability lies within Trust Wallet Browser Extension Version 2.68. Attackers exploited a specific security flaw in this particular version, enabling them to drain cryptocurrencies from users' wallets. In response to the breach, Trust Wallet promptly acknowledged the issue and released a crucial patch, Version 2.69, to mitigate the security hole. Users who are currently running the compromised Version 2.68 on their desktop computers are advised to exercise extreme caution: they should not click on the extension icon or attempt to open it. Interacting with the vulnerable version could inadvertently trigger the exploit, leading to the loss of their digital assets.

PeckShield's ongoing analysis revealed the extensive scale of the theft, noting that the attackers have been actively moving the stolen funds to various destinations, likely to obscure their tracks, mix the assets, or cash them out. A substantial portion, approximately $2.8 million, remains in the attackers' wallets across several blockchain networks, including Bitcoin, EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) chains, and Solana. The majority of the stolen funds, exceeding $4 million, has already been funneled through centralized exchanges. Specifically, $3.3 million was sent to ChangeNOW, $447,000 to KuCoin, and $340,000 to FixedFloat, making tracing and recovery efforts more complex.

Compounding the severity of the situation is the ongoing investigation into how the attackers managed to "submit a new version" (Version 2.68) to the Chrome Web Store. This particular detail strongly suggests a compromise within the release pipeline itself, rather than just a technical bug in the wallet's code. Investigators are looking into the possibility of an "inside job," implying that the security failure could have stemmed from a compromised employee or a rogue developer who possessed the necessary credentials and access to push an unauthorized and malicious update to the Google Web Store. This aspect of the breach points to a deeper organizational security challenge that Trust Wallet and its associated platforms are now working to address.

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