As we red the details in TheRecord.media, an attacker has abused a vulnerability in a cryptocurrency platform and stole crypto-assets worth $322.8 million at the time of stealing. The news is very detailed in the blog so does not want to mention the details here again.
But, the interesting thing is that the cryptocurrency platform – Wormhole – is now offering a proposal to the hacker including $10 million reward and to take the white hat side. Also it may mean that they won’t file any criminal complaint against the attacker.
This is an interesting situation for many reasons. Firstly, does that unilateral contract mean that the attacker can no longer be blamed, as the TheRecord.media mentioned in their post? The cyber attacks should be treated as a public offense and even if the attacker agrees on the proposal, simply it does not mean that they will never do it again to another organization. The cyber world is just like the real world, at least it should be. Even if you forgive a thief who stole your property, the same is true for cyber crime, just as this criminal is punished. This incident should be treated as a public crime.
If we look at the situation from the side of the attacker, it is not easy living without a trace, especially as long as she continues her similar actions. Considering the possibility that he stole a large amount of money and that she will now retire, with a good plan both during and after the attack, it is meaningless to accept the proposal of the victim. Even if she accepts, as we mentioned above, it does not mean that she will not be punished because of this crime. Putting aside the huge amount of money she stole, accepting the $10 million and with very likely facing a punishment.
Whichever way you look at it, this offer doesn’t make any sense. But still worth a try. We eagerly await the attacker’s response to this offer. We are also curious about your comments on this subject.