According to CoinDesk, interoperability service Socket and its bridging platform Bungee have resumed operations after a temporary pause due to an apparent $3.3 million exploit. Attackers targeted wallets with infinite approvals to Socket contracts, leading to the suspension of trading activity. Anonymous security researcher @speekaway first flagged the exploits on Tuesday. A wallet connected to the exploit, believed to belong to the attackers, holds nearly $3 million in ether (ETH) and $300,000 worth of other tokens.
Socket paused activity to prevent the attack from propagating further. On Wednesday, Socket developers announced that the issue was fixed and activities were restarted, with plans for compensation in the works. Cross-chain bridges like Socket’s Bungee, which allow users to transfer tokens between different blockchains, remain one of the most exploited tools in the market. In January, the first crypto exploit of the year involved an $81 million hack of Orbit Chain, a cross-chain bridge connecting Ethereum to other networks. The complexity of cross-chain tools makes such attacks commonplace, according to key developers. Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, advised consumers to be aware of the security levels of their chosen bridge and its ranking on the cross-chain security spectrum.