Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain analytics platform, has revealed that the Chinese mining pool Lubian was hacked in 2020, resulting in the theft of 127,426 Bitcoin (BTC). At that time, this amount was valued at around $3.5 billion, marking it as the largest crypto hack to date.
Looking back, the platform noted that Lubian, which ranked as the sixth-largest BTC mining pool then, was first breached on December 28, 2020. Nearly 90% of the Bitcoin held in the pool was taken by hackers before any recovery efforts could be made for the remaining 11,886 BTC. Arkham stated that neither Lubian nor the attackers disclosed any information about the incident at that point.
The mining pool even included an op_return message in the hacker’s wallet addresses, sending out 1,516 unique messages, which cost about 1.4 BTC. Arkham’s team also commented that it seemed Lubian may have used algorithms that generated private keys vulnerable to brute force attacks, suggesting this as a potential point of exploitation for the hackers.
As for the stolen Bitcoin, its current worth is roughly $14.5 billion, emphasizing the importance of strong security measures and diligent private key management for crypto users. Random number generators used to create keys must be robust to prevent similar breaches.
The Rubian Hack: Part of a Bigger Pattern
In another notable incident, the Bibit exchange was hacked for $1.5 billion in February, then considered the largest crypto hack until now. This breach was linked to issues surrounding a developer’s machine. A report highlighted that hackers may have installed malware on the developer’s system to misuse their Amazon Web Services (AWS) token, allowing access to sensitive systems without triggering alarms.
Additionally, in April, social engineering resulted in a loss of $330 million in Bitcoin, which at the time was ranked as the fifth-largest crypto theft, with some funds freezing immediately following the attack.
