The Rainbow Bridge for the NEAR Protocol was attacked on May 1. Alex Shevchenko, CEO of Aurora Labs, says that no funds have been stolen, and the attacker even lost money.
According to Alex Shevchenko, the attack was stopped automatically because the bridge was designed to resist such events.
“I wish everyone who is innovating in the blockchain to pay enough attention to security and robustness of their products through all the available means: automatic systems, notifications, bug bounties, internal and external audits.”
Alex Shevchenko, CEO of Aurora Labs
The Attack
On May 1, the attacker sent some ETH through the popular coin mixer Tornado Cash. In order to become a Rainbow Bridge relayer, the attacker deployed a contract to deposit funds.
The goal was to send “fabricated” light client blocks. Shevchenko said that the bridge watchdogs detected that the block submitted was not in the NEAR blockchain, and then sent a “challenge transaction” to Ethereum.
The Rainbow Bridge connects Ethereum, NEAR, and Aurora networks so that users can transfer assets between them. It was developed by Aurora Labs and is known for its user-friendly interface.
DeFi continues to face challenges
In recent months as attacks on bridges have been on the rise. Ronin Bridge was the victim of the largest hack, which resulted in $615 million being stolen. Wormhole and Meter were also victims.