Crypto finance platform Curve faces breach, hackers to steal over $570k

Decentralized finance (DeFi) cryptocurrency platform, Curve, announced a breach on August 9 — which hackers exploited to steal over $570,000 from the platform. However, the company stated in the hours following the exploit that the vulnerability that was used by hackers was a glitch on domain name service (DNS) provider, I Want My Name, and not a breach on the DeFi service’s end. 

The platform announced late last night that its domain name and front end was compromised. According to a Twitter post by the company, hackers spoofed its DNS — which identifies the website and helps users find it on the internet — and cloned its portal to a malicious website. Unsuspecting users would have continued to execute their smart contracts as per usual operational practice on Curve — which the hackers exploited to steal the sum. 

Curve Finance is a DeFi platform that allows users to invest in stablecoins by swapping volatile tokens. Investors on the platform were incentivised through its own CRV token, which users earned for adding to the liquidity pool of crypto tokens that they invested in. To execute these investments, users would approve smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, on which Curve operated — which hackers exploited to steal money from the platform last night. 

To be sure, the Curve breach is the latest in a series of DeFi breaches around the world — the largest of which was the Ronin hack in March this year. Hackers exploited validator nodes on the Ronin blockchain, the Ethereum sidechain that powered the game Axie Infinity, to steal over $600 million. 

Security experts pegged hacks of DeFi platforms on coding lapses, which led to the presence of vulnerabilities on various crypto-related projects. According to DeFi tracker database REKT, global DeFi breaches have added up to over $1.4 billion in the past 12 months — a figure that has steadily increased over the past few years.