Banana Gun Bot Suffers $1.9M Hack: Here is What We Know

A crypto private investigator revealed that 36 users of the Banana Gun bot have reported unauthorized transfers from their wallets. This strongly indicates that the bot has been compromised by a hack.

Moreover, the Telegram-based trading bot allows users to automate transactions on popular blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana. After the security breach, numerous wallets experienced unauthorized fund transfers, and a minimum of 11 perpetrators have been identified as being responsible for the incident.

How the Hack Occurred

According to Cyvers, an on-chain security firm, at least 11 attackers orchestrated the hack, carting off approximately $1.9 million worth of Ether from 36 victims. The stolen funds were then funneled into various wallets.

Crypto investigator Yannick Crypto, also on his X account tweeted:

“ATTENTION!

There is rumour that @BananaGunBot wallet’s getting drained right now.

Recipient of the 6 drained wallets i could find is

0xe451241389b80a980c44dd55805eb05276cd141c

0xd073f28400be60aae6691d6131b5f7f45e91d999

But there is rumor that there are much more victims.”

He identified at least 11 addresses linked to the hackers, noting that the small number of affected accounts suggests that the hackers didn’t successfully infiltrate the entire trading bot, only an isolated number of accounts.

Banana Gun  Response

In response to the breach, the Banana Gun team took the bot offline to prevent further damage.

The team also shortly addressed the issue in their official X handle, saying:

“We have confirmed that our back-end is not compromised. Both the router and database have been thoroughly inspected, and only a very small number of users (fewer than 10) were affected,”

They further stressed that the issue likely originated from the bot’s frontend, which might have allowed attackers to manually execute transfers from compromised accounts.

Additionally, they announced through their official Telegram account that an investigation was underway and advised users to be cautious and avoid using the bot for a while to protect their crypto assets.

Hacking Incidents on the Rise

Banana Gun bot joins the increasingly growing list of hacked exchanges in the last few months. On July 18, 2024, a hacker brazenly absconded with a staggering $230 million from WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange. This audacious heist now stands as the second-largest cryptocurrency hack of 2024.

Attackers are becoming more sophisticated making it harder for exchanges to keep up with their security architecture.