Security News > 2022 > August > FBI Warns Investors to Take Precautions with Decentralized Financial Platforms

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday warned of cyber criminals increasingly exploiting flaws in decentralized finance platforms to plunder cryptocurrency.

"The FBI has observed cyber criminals exploiting vulnerabilities in the smart contracts governing DeFi platforms to steal investors' cryptocurrency," the agency said in a notification.

Attackers are said to have used different methods to hack and steal cryptocurrency from DeFi platforms, including initiating flash loans that trigger exploits in the platforms' smart contracts and exploiting signature verification flaws in their token bridge to withdraw all investments.

The agency has also observed criminals defrauding the platforms by manipulating cryptocurrency price pairs - assets that can be traded for each other on an exchange - by exploiting a series of vulnerabilities to bypass slippage checks and steal roughly $35 million in digital funds.

Losses arising from cryptocurrency hacks have jumped nearly 60% in the first seven months of the year to $1.9 billion, propelled by a "Stunning rise" in funds stolen from decentralized finance protocols, a report from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis revealed this month.

The advisory also arrives over a month after the FBI cautioned that malicious actors are developing rogue cryptocurrency apps to defraud investors of their virtual assets.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2022/08/fbi-warns-investors-to-take-precautions.html