The lifespan of a cryptocurrency is not limited to years and decades. The range is much bigger than we can imagine. According to some studies, the very first Bitcoin differs blockchain are still in circulation and there are chances that many people using the facility today may have acquired them then. The popularity of crypto is up to a such an extent that many new members are ready to try their skills and luck and those who are already present in the competition are striving their luck as hard as they can so there could be some gains and profits. Every popular thing attracts the eyes of good people as well as bad people. By bad people, we mean the scammers and fraudsters that are constantly keeping their eyes on the gains of legit people, and with a chance, they can easily grab the bounty of these people.
Though everyone believes that this kind of fraud cannot happen to them but similar has happened in the past and the extent of losses was quite considerable. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the attacks in the history of crypto that forced the chain to change according to some genuine needs and requirements. So, let us start the journey:
Crypto attack- An introduction
The emails are received imitating that these are from some legit platform and they need your serious and confidential information for your benefit only! These types of emails and messages are mostly found to be frauds and despite awarding their associates and users, many companies have reported that they receive thousands of such complaints from their customers about falling into the trap of these attacks. The sensitive information once leaked will bring no profit to you but no scale can measure the extent of losses after that.
Popular attacks of all the time
As discussed, the number of attacks is many but some noticeable ones are consolidated here. Some have been discussed for general information:
1. The reentrancy Attack
Many developers and programmers work day and night to devise smart contracts and other digital entities. These attacks are concerned with low-level algorithms and poor skills of coders while devising a code and algorithm. As the entire structure of the software is based on its codes and programs, if that thing is weak then no one can expect its performance to the point. The first attack of reentrancy was pointed out in the year 2016. In this attack, the attacker can withdraw the economic asset more than available causing liability on the head of the legit user. This became serious with the advancement and evolution of technology.
2. The 51% attack
These types of attacks are related to the miners. We all know that it is only because of miners that transactions get approved and rejected and as a result, the miners enjoy some sort of monopoly on some particular section of the blockchain. In this attack, the miners decide which transaction to approve or to fail. Thus, it becomes a game of go, no go wherein the decisions are taken according to one’s interests and not according to the flow of funds.
3. The Flash Loan attacks
These kinds of attacks are related to the advancement of loans in the digital field. It is one of the popular attacks on the Defi platform and involves nil capital risks for the attacker. The advancement of loans without any collateral is the most important point for this attack. As far as the mean of paying back is the same as that of the issue, no one can even notice it. Thus, this is a matter of concern for the whole fund flow on the digital platform.