Cryptocurrency Heist: Poly Network Offers Hacker Top Security Job, Insists on Him Keeping $500,000 Reward

After the Poly Network heist was discovered, the company made an appeal to the hacker and he returned most of the stolen funds.

By Edited by Gadgets 360 Newsdesk | Updated: 19 August 2021 14:41 IST

Cryptocurrency Heist: Poly Network Offers Hacker Top Security Job, Insists on Him Keeping $500,000 Reward

The hacker is offered the job of Chief Security Advisor by Poly Network

Highlights

Over $600 million worth of tokens were stolen from Poly Network
The company appealed to the hacker to return the amount
The amount was eventually returned after the appeal

Cryptocurrency hacker who was involved in an over-$600 million (roughly Rs 4,462 crores) heist last week has been offered the job of Chief Security Advisor by the same company that he targeted. Additionally, Poly Network has insisted that “Mr. White Hat” (how the company addresses the hacker) keep the $500,000 (roughly Rs. 37.1 crores) reward as a token of gratitude from the cryptocurrency platform. The hacker, or hackers, had returned most of the stolen funds, saying that the heist was just “for fun.” The hacker had also refused to accept the company's reward as part of negotiations and stated publicly that he considered offering it to those who have contributed to blockchain security.

“White Hat" is a term used to describe an ethical hacker who aims to expose cyber vulnerabilities. Poly Network allows users to swap tokens from one digital ledger to another. But someone found a flaw in the system and transferred assets to their own cryptocurrency wallets. The major attack saw the hacker make off with more than $600 million worth of tokens. This heist was the largest known cryptocurrency heist ever as it surpassed $534.8 million (roughly Rs. 3,978 crores) in digital coins stolen from Japanese exchange Coincheck in 2018.

After the Poly Network heist was discovered, the company made an appeal to the hacker and it likely worked.

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#PolyNetwork has no intention of holding #mrwhitehat legally responsible and cordially invites him to be our Chief Security Advisor. $500,000 bounty is on the way. Whatever #mrwhitehat chooses to do with the bounty in the end, we have no objections. https://t.co/4IaZvyWRGz
— Poly Network (@PolyNetwork2) August 17, 2021

Later, the company informed that the funds were steadily being returned and it was in touch with the hacker.

Express our deepest apologies to all users again. With the aim of ensuring complete, safe, and smooth asset recovery, we would like to briefly share #PolyNetwork 's roadmap for resuming operations and fully recovering user assets in the coming phases.https://t.co/Zh1Sm9eDq1
— Poly Network (@PolyNetwork2) August 14, 2021

In a statement, Poly Network said the hacker had “expressed concerns about the company's security and overall development strategy”. Then the job offer followed.

“Also, to extend our thanks and encourage Mr. White Hat to continue contributing to security advancement in the blockchain world together with Poly Network, we cordially invite Mr. White Hat to be the Chief Security Advisor of Poly Network,” the company said.

Regarding the $500,000 bounty, the company said it fully respects Mr. White Hat's thoughts to refuse the money and send it to those who are working to improve the blockchain technology. “We will still transfer this $500,000 bounty to a wallet address approved by Mr. White Hat so that he can use it for the cause of cybersecurity,” Poly Network added.

Interested in cryptocurrency? We discuss all things crypto with WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty and WeekendInvesting founder Alok Jain on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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