This story is developing and a new report is available here.
Atomic Wallet suffered some sort of breach, hack or other compromise as users reported funds being drained over the last few days, but little information is available about the incident.
The company behind Estonia-based Atomic Wallet has issued little in the way of updates, causing some users to complain and speculate on social media, prompting some media outlets to speculate as well. Theories range from North Korean hacker group Lazarus’ involvement to an inside job. Ohers say Atomic Wallet’s centralized server was hacked and a fake update to their app was pushed out. Without detailed information and updates there is no way to ascertain the truth.
Atomic Wallet said five million users utilize their platform, and “less than 1% of our monthly active users have been affected/reported.” The number of wallets affected is still in question. Also at issue is just who is at risk? Are users who created wallets but have not used the wallet in years vulnerable? Was it a malicious update? Were seed phrases compromised? These questions remain unanswered.
The wallet maker said they are working with “leading blockchain analysis companies to trace stolen funds.” Atomic Wallet also said they have had some success in blocking some funds with the help of major exchanges, however, this is cryptic and does not answer user’s critical questions. Twitter is rife with scammer’s instant replies to inquiring users who lost entire portfolios. Cosmos News reported an account impersonating Atomic Wallet while researching this story. Don’t fall victim by engaging with an account labeled @AtomicWalletOfficial.
Atomic Wallet said “detectives” say “the attack was coordinated by a team of professional hackers.” Coindesk ran a speculative story where crypto compliance solution company Elliptic said North Korea’s Lazarus hacking group is “likely” to blame for the “$35 million theft” as connections to previous hacked funds and similar laundering methods were presented in a blog post.
The lack of real information and updates has cast a shadow on Atomic Wallet, with users moving crypto assets into other wallet providers with more secure 24-word seed phrases as a precaution.
Cosmos News has reached out to Atomic Wallet, but has not received any reply.
