Crypto Online Casino Site Hacked For More Than $40 Million
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Crimes and scandals involving cryptocurrency have been in the news quite a bit in recent months – from the downfall of FTX to cyberattacks involving North Korea’s Lazarus Group. One online gambling site that accepts crypto experienced a hack of its own this week that saw millions of dollars funneled out of play funds.
Crypto gambling site Stake.com looked to have lost $41 million after being hacked earlier this week. CoinTelegraph.com reports that the site was drained of three differing cryptocurrencies to an account that had previously seen no activity.
“Crypto gambling site Stake experienced $41 million in withdrawals on Sept. 4 in what blockchain security analysts have called ‘suspicious outflows,’” the site noted. “The withdrawing account has been labeled ‘Stake.com Hacker’ by Etherscan, implying that the drained funds may be the result of a stolen private key.”
Stake is an offshore gaming site offering an online casino, sports betting, and more. The platform also operates a free-to-play U.S. site as well.
The company accepts several forms of cryptocurrency, and the crypto theft included withdrawals in the following amounts, according to Beosin Alert, a real-time online security and auditing firm.
● Ethereum – $15.7 million● Polygon – $7.8 million
● BSC – $17.8M
Although the site confirmed the hack and loss of funds, they reassured players that their funds are safe.
“Three hours ago, unauthorized (transactions) were made from Stake’s ETH/BSC hot wallets” the team noted on Twitter. “We are investigating and will get the wallets up as soon as they’re completely re-secured.”
Stake CEO Ed Craven said the company keeps a small portion of crypto reserves in “hot wallets” in case of these types of hacks. He said any player wallets affected would be available soon.
Just The Latest Hacked Gaming Site
This isn’t the first time online gaming sites have been hacked in some fashion. In May, DraftKings saw an attack that jeopardized 60,000 player accounts. In the same month, an attack on a technology provider completely shut down Holland Casino Online. The cyberattack reportedly caused similar issues for other online gambling sites around the world.
In April, French online gaming site Houlgate suffered a ransomware attack that shut it down for several days. Last September, PokerStars experienced a series of DDoS attacks during the annual World Championship of Online Poker. The site eventually canceled several events and was forced to play them later after the issues were resolved.
According to Security magazine, cyberattacks can be expensive – costing operators an average of $4 million per occurrence, not to mention recouping any lost player funds.
Some experts believe the gaming environment may not always be keeping up with the latest advancements in online security.
“A key security challenge facing the online gaming industry is that regulations are lagging behind in key markets,” Security reports. “This has made online gaming a sure bet for hackers. In just the past year, security leaders have seen a number of high-profile breaches in the industry.”
*Image credit: Pexels – Karolina Grabowska
