Polygon Discord Account Compromised Ahead MATIC To POL Migration

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As a seasoned researcher with years of experience in the cryptocurrency market, I have seen my fair share of ups and downs, hacks, and breaches. The recent incident at Polygon, just weeks before their major network upgrade, is another reminder of the ever-present risks in this dynamic ecosystem.

Polygon is dealing with a substantial security issue as it approaches a significant network update. Recently, their official community Discord server was hacked, potentially endangering users who engage with the platform. Additionally, cybercriminals are circulating fraudulent links on the server in preparation for the upcoming transition from MATIC to POL.

Polygon Discord Channel Faces Hack

Mudit Gupta, who serves as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Polygon Labs, recently cautioned the community via X (previously known as Twitter). He stated, “Attention: Refrain from clicking on any links within the Polygon community Discord for now. The platform has been compromised, and we’re working diligently to regain control.” Additionally, Gupta emphasized the severity of this hack, particularly because of the upcoming token migration on the platform.

Furthermore, Sandeep Nailwal, a co-founder of Polygon, echoed Gupta’s caution, advising users to steer clear of dubious links as the probe into the breach progresses. Gupta conceded the ambiguity surrounding the source of the attack.

1. He highlighted that the incident occurred even though Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) was in place. In a comment, cryptocurrency detective SomaXBT questioned the reason behind the recent Discord channel hack. Gupta replied, “We don’t know for sure yet, but all our privileged accounts did have 2FA.”

The timing of the hack is especially troubling, as Polygon is about to undergo a major update – switching from MATIC to POL tokens. It appears that the hackers are taking advantage of the increased curiosity surrounding this transition to disseminate phishing links in the compromised Discord server.

Therefore, these fraudulent links appear as deceptive imitations of POL airdrop notifications, aiming to trap unwary users excited about the migration process. At present, the exact scale of the harm is still undefined, as there are no official disclosures regarding the number of affected individuals or the potential financial repercussions.

A Look At MATIC To POL migration

On September 4th, we’re set for the migration of tokens. This transition from Matic to Polygon (POL) is an upgrade initiated by the community and initially proposed a year ago. As per Polygon’s announcement, starting from that date, POL will take over as both the gas token used for transactions and the staking token on the Proof-of-Stake chain, replacing MATIC in these roles.

The upgrade is planned to happen in stages. To start, there will be a transition focusing on exchanging MATIC for POL on the Proof of Stake (PoS) chain. Next, we’ll launch the Staking Layer and move Polygon’s public chains onto this new layer for added functionality. Furthermore, the use case of the POL token is set to broaden significantly, becoming essential in the upcoming AggLayer.

Regarding the transition procedure, it’s important to note that MATIC token holders on the Polygon Proof of Stake (PoS) and those staking MATIC on Ethereum can relax, as they don’t need to do anything. However, MATIC token holders on the Ethereum blockchain, Polygon zkEVM, and centralized exchanges will need to move their tokens. To make this transition smoother, the team initiated a testnet migration on July 17.

In spite of the security issue, MATIC has demonstrated market resilience, with its current price surpassing $0.50. This points towards a promising trend that could potentially lead MATIC to challenge the $0.55 price mark again, as previously reported by Coingape.

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2024-08-24 14:10