Gnus.AI Discord hack causes $1.27M loss.
The Gnus.AI artificial intelligence network lost about $1.27 million in token mining on May 5. The group announced that it plans to release a new version of the Genius (GNUS) token, and users should not purchase the old version.
Gnus.AI is a blockchain network that allows users to perform AI calculations in exchange for tokens.
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According to a post by blockchain security firm CertiK on May 6, the attacker managed to pull off the exploit by obtaining the group's private key, which starts with 0x18. Once they took control of this account, they copied the token's “salt” data from Ethereum, allowing them to create a tokenized version of the Phantom network to use the Acceler Bridge protocol.
After that, 100 million fake GNUS tokens were created, transferred to Ethereum and sold in the market. The resulting devaluation transferred the wealth of existing token holders to the attacker, as the attacker received real assets in exchange for tokens created out of thin air.
On May 5, on social media platform X, Gnus.AI CEO “SuperGenius” said that the 0x18 account was compromised when an attacker used the group's private Discord connections, saying, “Spoofing hackers can view private messages with contention.” ”
As Supergenius describes it as a “quick fix”, the group will put $500,000 of Ether (ETH) from its own funds into the liquidity pool after launch. In addition, the team will set aside $500,000 worth of payments.
CertiK estimates that the exploiter lost $1.25 million, indicating that the initial cash distribution covered 80 percent of the loss.
Blockchain networks continue to face exploit risks. However, some evidence suggests that these attacks may be decreasing as security practices improve. According to a report from Certike on April 30, Ripto users have suffered minimal losses from exploits since 2021.
