Komodo, crypto wallet provider, managed to hack itself in order to discover security vulnerabilities. The news was confirmed in a company blog post.
The start of the campaign was caused by security researchers that alerted Komodo of the fact that there is a vulnerability present in the Agama wallet. As it was obvious that hackers can strike, the cybersecurity team at Komodo decided to use the exact same exploit in order to move the compromised crypto towards safety.
When explaining what happened, Komodo stated:
We were able to sweep around 8 million KMD and 96 BTC from these vulnerable wallets, which otherwise would have been easy pickings for the attacker.
The actions that Komodo took practically mean that $13 million worth of funds were shielded from a potential hack.
Crypto is now stored in 2 safe wallets. Owners are invited to reclaim assets if accounts are swept. If crypto is still present in the Agama wallet, users are recommended to move funds to a brand new address, as soon as it is possible.
More details about the Komodo self-hack will be published in the future but only after the company is sure that all the funds are secured.
In the cryptocurrency industry, hacks stand out as a clear threat. Cryptopia, a defunct New Zealand crypto exchange was shown to owe $4.22 to their creditors after an attack was suffered in the middle of January. Before that, hackers successfully used phishing in order to withdraw 7,000 BTC from Binance hot wallets that were compromised in an attack that was not detected by the security systems of the exchange.
Due to the hacking threat, it is always recommended that you keep your funds in different wallets and that the bulk of your crypto is present in a highly secured wallet.