Cryptocurrencies
Attacker Behind Record 2016 Crypto Hack Might Have Been Found
- Journalist Laura Shin says Austrian programmer was the hacker
- Toby Hoenisch denied to Shin that her findings were accurate
This article is for subscribers only.
One of the most significant hacks in the history of crypto has gone unsolved for almost six years, after an unknown attacker siphoned 3.6 million Ether -- worth over $9 billion at current prices -- from a decentralized fund known as TheDAO. Now, journalist Laura Shin says in a new book that she may have discovered the person behind it.
The 2016 attack on TheDAO was the result of a flaw in its code allowing an attacker to slowly drain funds from the main platform into other newly-created DAOs, relying on good actors to engage with those offshoot DAOs to stop the attacker from withdrawing funds entirely.