{"id":47552,"date":"2021-08-11T20:28:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T17:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=47552"},"modified":"2025-09-01T21:55:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:55:58","slug":"for-fun-hacker-explains-the-reasons-behind-the-poly-network-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/for-fun-hacker-explains-the-reasons-behind-the-poly-network-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"“For fun”: hacker explains the reasons behind the Poly Network attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

An unknown attacker embedded in Ethereum-\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0437\u0430\u043a\u0446\u0438\u044e<\/a> text containing answers to questions about the motives for his attack on the Poly Network cross-chain protocol.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To read the text, open the transaction details on Etherscan, click Click to see More <\/em>, and ensure that in the Input Data \u2014 View Input As<\/em> field the UTF-8 encoding is selected.<\/p>\n

\"\u00ab\u0417\u0430\u0431\u0430\u0432\u044b
\u0414\u0430\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0435: Etherscan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the attacker, he hacks for amusement. He chose Poly Network because hacking cross-chain protocols is “hot”.<\/p>\n

\n

“Now everyone can sense the scent of a hidden intent. An insider? Not me, but who knows? I take responsibility to disclose the vulnerability before anyone else exploits it!”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The hacker called the Poly Network platform a “worthy system”.<\/p>\n

\n

“This is one of the most complex attacks a hacker could relish. And I had to be fast to beat any insider or hacker”.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He wrote that he moved the tokens to “keep them safe”. According to the hacker, he “felt mixed emotions” when he discovered the bug.<\/p>\n

\n

“Ask yourself what you would do if faced with such a sum”.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the first part of the hacker’s message, he noted that he “never” disclosed any information about himself.<\/p>\n

\n

“I prefer to stay in the shadows, saving the world”.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In a note attached to another transaction, the hacker stressed that he is not particularly interested in money, but returns assets slowly, as he needs time to negotiate with the Poly Network team.<\/p>\n

\n

“I would like to give them advice on how to secure networks so they can manage a multi-billion-dollar project in the future. Poly Network is a well-crafted system; it can handle a large volume of assets”.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As a reminder, on 10 August the Poly Network cross-chain protocol was attacked. The total damage amounted to $611 million<\/a> in various cryptocurrencies. Some of the stolen funds, for example in USDT, were blocked.<\/p>\n

On 11 August, the unknown attacker began returning<\/a> funds related to the attack.<\/p>\n

ForkLog experts offered various opinions<\/a> regarding possible reasons for the Poly Network attack.<\/p>\n

Follow ForkLog news on Twitter<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An unknown attacker embedded in an Ethereum transaction a text containing answers to questions about the motives for his attack on the Poly Network cross-chain protocol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1154,2231],"class_list":["post-47552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crimes","tag-poly-network"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"25","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47554,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47552\/revisions\/47554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}