The Iranian cryptocurrency exchange Nobitex has been hacked for more than $81 million of various different digital assets. The major attack, which was disclosed in a Wednesday Telegram post, drained at least $81.7 million in assets from the exchange. These assets were stolen across the Tron network and other Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible blockchains by the unknown attackers. Onchain investigator ZachXBT spotted the attackers using a “vanity address” to exploit the protocol, which resulted in “suspicious outflows.” The first $49 million was stolen through a provocative address that was specifically designed to send a clear political message.
Nobitex has since confirmed that a portion of its hot wallets saw clear signs of “unauthorized access” by a third party.
The affected wallets were immediately “suspended” by the company upon the initial detection of the very large scale security breach. “Users’ assets are completely secure according to cold storage standards,” Nobitex said in a post on the social media platform X. They also added that “all damages will be compensated through the insurance fund and all of our available Nobitex resources.”
A senior security lead at the blockchain security firm Cyvers said the exploit appears to stem from a critical failure in access controls.
A pro-Israel hacker group that is calling itself “Gonjeshke Darande” has now officially claimed responsibility for the Nobitex hack. In a recent post on the social media platform X, the group said it would release the exchange’s source code and internal files. They issued a warning that any remaining assets on the platform “will be at risk” for all of the exchange’s users. “The Nobitex exchange is at the heart of the regime’s efforts to finance terror worldwide,” the hacking group wrote in their post. They also claimed working at Nobitex is considered valid military service, as it is considered vital to the Iranian regime’s efforts.
This hack on the Iranian cryptocurrency exchange comes amid the fifth day of a renewed and escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. This situation has raised significant fears of a much broader and more destructive regional war breaking out between the two nations. On June 13, Israel launched multiple strikes on various different targets located deep inside Iran, marking its largest attack on the country. The two countries have since engaged in multiple strategic missile strikes directly against each other, resulting in many reported casualties. This cyberattack appears to be a new front in the ongoing and intensifying conflict between the two long-standing adversaries in the region.
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