A $280 Million Crypto Hack Exposes a Human Weak Link in DeFi (1)

Drift, a decentralized finance project built on the Solana blockchain, was hit by a hack that drained nearly $300 million in digital assets from the protocol, ranking it among the largest exploits in the history of crypto.

“Earlier today, a malicious actor gained unauthorized access to Drift Protocol through a novel attack involving durable nonces, resulting in a rapid takeover of Drift’s Security Council administrative powers,” Drift said in a post on X late Wednesday, adding that about $280 million in cryptocurrencies were stolen from the project.

Industry observers speculatedthe hack appeared to be a social-engineering-driven attack, similar to ...