WazirX Raises White Hat Recovery Bounty to $23M After $230M Hack

WazirX has increased its White Hat recovery bounty by 10%, which is now worth $23 million.

The move follows a serious cyber attack that led to the theft of more than $230 million from a multi-signature wallet.

WazirX increases reward reward

As a way to recover funds, the exchange announced a bounty program, which called for the global participation of white hat hackers, cyber security specialists and blockchain analysts. Initially, they set the bounty at 5%, which amounted to $11.5 million. Later, based on feedback from popular blockchain researcher ZachXBT, they increased it to 10%.

Based on @zachxbtBased on ‘ feedback, we’ve increased the white hat recovery reward to 10%, up to $23 million.

We invite white hat hackers, blockchain forensics experts and cybersecurity professionals from around the world to join this mission critical and protect the integrity… https://t.co/WasoyJT5UX

— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) July 21, 2024

WazirX has come up with two specific rewards. The first, “Track and Freeze,” offers up to $10,000 for information that will allow them to freeze the stolen funds. The second is White Hat recovery, which is 10% of the amount recovered for those who can recover the stolen funds.

The rewards program will run for three months from the date of announcement. However, an extension or reduction is possible depending on the results and requirements.

Notably, after the hack, WazirX temporarily halted trading to address difficulties in maintaining a 1:1 token-to-asset ratio.

WazirX founder says it wasn’t a phishing attack

WazirX founder Nischal Shetty has also clarified to X that the recent hack was not caused by a phishing attack. He explained that the incident involved three signatures from different WazirX devices with separate hardware wallets, each located in different locations, and a fourth from Liminal, its custody provider.

Based on preliminary analysis, there were no signs of compromise on the WazirX devices, and an external forensic audit is underway to confirm this.

Shetty further explained that the hardware keys of the three wallets were not compromised as the attack required four different signatures from four locations and two parties, WazirX and Liminal. The latter’s team confirmed that they had not been breached.

WazirX has since filed a police report with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) and contacted more than 500 exchanges to block identified addresses.

In addition, the platform is conducting a security review and full forensic data assessment to address security issues and return to normal operations. Users have also been assured that withdrawals will return shortly.

In a recent tweet, Shetty praised the team’s efforts to resolve the issue, saying that it will take time to resolve the issue, but they won’t stop.

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