The Discord channel of Ethereum sidechain Polygon was hacked, leading to painful losses for users.
Phishing attack, with damages
Polygon’s Discord channel was compromised, with hackers posting phishing links that tricked users into parting with their assets.
Polygon’s Chief Security Officer, Medhi Gupta quickly informed the community of the breach, advising everyone to avoid clicking on any links until the issue was resolved. But in some cases, it was too late.
As the team shared, all accounts with administrative access having two-factor authentication enabled, but the source of the breach remains unclear.
The incident raised questions about the effectiveness of security measures on Polygon’s Discord, especially during a period of significant transition for the platform.
The battle is over
After about two hours, Polygon’s team took control back for the compromised Discord channel, but based on the reports from users who detected the breach, the hackers impersonated legitimate support staff and misled users looking for assistance.
They also posted fake links in the announcement sections, falsely promoting information related to the upcoming token migration.
An official post on X confirmed that Polygon already removed all malicious links and temporarily disabled external bots and integrations while the team investigated the breach.
Gupta assured users that the situation was under control.
Discord channels are now common target for hackers
Over the past two years, several high-profile crypto projects have seen their Discord channels hacked, including Arbitrum, StarkNet, and Bored Apes Yacht Club.
Despite warnings and the channel’s recovery, at least one user became victim to the scam.
A user known as ValidatorK shared on X that they lost 120,000 MATIC and 30 ETH, worth approximately $143,000, after clicking on one of the fraudulent links, mistakenly believing it to be an official announcement from Polygon.
@0xPolygon
This was my Ethereum pool until about 33 minutes ago. But it disappeared in an instant through the link provided through the announcement on Polygon's official Discord. Why aren't you making this serious issue official through X account? pic.twitter.com/OtgZlu4rON— Mr.K (@ValidatorK) August 24, 2024
“How can I be compensated for the damage caused by not being officially notified of the hacking? I lost about 120,000 MATIC and 30 ETH in a pair of Ethereum pools. It’s so painful and terrible.”
