Poly Network offers hacker advisor role after he stole $600 million worth of assets

Poly Network was targeted in a big attempt at theft and has now invited the hacker behind the successful theft to become an advisor to the firm. The firm has also promised a $500,000 reward for the restoration of user funds. Poly Network was hit with a major attack last week in which the hacker stole $600 million worth of tokens. The hacker exploited a flaw in Poly Network’s code and transferred the assets to their own crypto wallets.

It is easily the largest crypto theft of all time after surpassing previous record of $534.8 million in digital coins stolen from Japanese exchange Coincheck or another $450 million worth of bitcoin that went missing from Tokyo-based exchange Mt. Gox in 2014. But in the curious case of Poly Network, the hacker decided to unusually return most of the stolen money. Apart from the balance of $33 million, the rest has been returned. Poly Network has asked the hacker, who goes with the name “Mr. White Hat,” to provide the password to unlock $200 million of the returned money. “Mr. White Hat” is now lauded as an ethical hacker, who not only exposed vulnerabilities but also returned the stolen money. It’s not understood why the hacker is withholding access to a large amount of money.

The offer of bountry reward

Last week, Poly Network offered a $500,000 bounty in exchange of sending all the money back. Such rewards are given to those hackers who find vulnerabilities and do not expose them to the public. He first denied the offer but later in a message embedded in transaction on Monday, the hacker said “I am considering taking the bounty as a bonus for public hackers if they can hack the Poly Network.” Poly Network said on Tuesday that the firm hopes to implement a “significant system upgrade” that would prevent such an attack from happening again in the future. The firm also said that it cannot do the same until all the money is returned. Finally, the firm said that they have promised to reward “Mr. White Hat” with a $500,000 bounty and the offer still stands. They also invited the hacker to becomes their “chief security advisor.”

Image Credit: UNSPLASH