Pendle Finance Twitter Hack Fake Airdrop
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Pendle Finance offers tools to assist users in optimizing their yield on DeFi loans, enabling more predictable yield generation stretegies. On March 30th, they lost the ability to access their Twitter account, and the account appeared to be linked to a different email address. In the 2 hours prior to regaining access through direct contact with the Twitter team, a fake airdrop was launched in their name. The team ultimately did regain access, however their account was secured with two-factor authentication which was not SMS-based and they have been unable to identify any vulnerabilities on their end which contributed to the breach.
This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.[1][2][3][4][5]
About Pendle Finance
"How much will you earn from lending 1,000 USDC on Aave? 1%? 3%? 5%?
Truth is, you can't say for sure. Yield fluctuates just like token prices. It tends to go up in bull markets, and go down in bear markets, and there are further micro-factors that cause fluctuations within those general market trends."
"With Pendle, you can always maximise your yield: increase your yield exposure in bull markets and hedge against yield downturns during bear markets."
"Pendle is a permissionless yield-trading protocol where users can execute various yield-management strategies."
"At around 1am UTC, the team noticed that we had been logged out of @pendle_fi across our devices. We tried to reset the password but at this point, the email address registered to the account had already been changed, which was odd since we could not identify any access points"
"1. 2FA was enabled with no connection to any phone numbers
2. Confirmed that all external accounts and log-in points were not compromised (e.g. password manager, email, 2FA, etc)"
"Once we confirmed that access had been lost, we immediately put out a PSA via other accounts and an official report was submitted to X.
Team also reached out to partners and everyone within our circle to warn of this compromise, and requested help on spreading this awareness."
"With the help of our friends, the team was able to get in touch with an X official directly.
This was also around the same time when the hackers made their first move - a fake airdrop post and phishing link."
"With the help of X officials and some third-parties, we were finally able to put @pendle_fi on lockdown, and marked all of the posts from the hacker as spam.
Entire process from identifying the compromise to regaining control lasted ~2 hours."
"Team is still working with @X to identify exactly how this happened, but as of now no possible access point has been identified yet, aside from hackers impersonating a Pendle team member to reset the account.
Further details will be shared once confirmed"
"Special shoutout to @MikeSilagadze, @zachxbt and @_0xbe1 for their assistance and lightning responsiveness. It was thanks to them that we were able to act swiftly in counteracting the issue."
"The Pendle team has regained control of this account.
Thank you to everyone who helped and guided us in this ordeal, really appreciate it.
For the details of what happened, please refer to our post-mortem"
This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.
The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.
Include:
- Known history of when and how the service was started.
- What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
- What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
- Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
- Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
- How were people recruited to participate?
- Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.
Don't Include:
- Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
- Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.
There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.
The Reality
This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:
- When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
- Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
- How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
- Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.
What Happened
The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.
| Date | Event | Description |
|---|---|---|
| March 29th, 2024 7:00:00 PM MDT | Twitter Access Discovered Lost | The Pendle Finance team reportedly discovered that they could not access their Twitter account. |
| March 30th, 2024 7:19:00 AM MDT | Recovery Reported | The Pendle Finance team announces they've recovered their Twitter account and links to a post-mortem report. |
Technical Details
This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?
Total Amount Lost
The total amount lost is unknown.
How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?
Immediate Reactions
How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?
Ultimate Outcome
What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?
Total Amount Recovered
There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.
What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?
Ongoing Developments
What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?
Individual Prevention Policies
No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.
For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.
Platform Prevention Policies
Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.
For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.
Regulatory Prevention Policies
No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.
For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.
References
- ↑ SlowMist Hacked - SlowMist Zone (Apr 26, 2024)
- ↑ Pendle (Apr 29, 2024)
- ↑ https://docs.pendle.finance/home (Apr 29, 2024)
- ↑ @pendle_fi Twitter (Apr 29, 2024)
- ↑ @DefiIgnas Twitter (Apr 29, 2024)