Poly Network Announces Bug Bounty Program Following Major Hack

A week following the major hack on the Poly Network, the network announced a bug bounty program with Immunefi.

Last week the Poly Network faced the largest network hack in decentralized finance (DeFi) history. An unknown hacker, now referred to as MrWhiteHat, stole over $600 million in funds across multiple blockchains.

Poly Network saga

Poly Network immediately jumped on the situation and issued a statement to its community, which also addressed the hacker and called for an amicable solution. Overnight, the hacker returned $10,000, before sending back $1 million shortly after that. 

By the end of the next day, MrWhiteHat returned the rest of the funds apart from a small percentage that had been frozen by Tether. In a Q&A with the hacker on Twitter, MrWhiteHat claimed it was “always the plan” to return the funds. 

In this same Q&A, the hacker touched on a bug in the system, which ultimately allowed for the theft. Following this. Poly Network jumped on the case and released its “Roadmap for Recovery.” The plan outlines the ways in which the network will resume operations and fully recover user assets. Along with the roadmap, the network issued an apology to the community. 

Along with the release of the roadmap to resume normal operations, Poly made another announcement brought on by the hack. 

The network announced that there will be a $500,000 bug bounty program for “top security organizations, whitehat organizations, developers, anybody who cares about DeFi security.” 

It’s clear that network security takes new precedence in the network’s priorities post-hack. “We continue to maintain the safe recovery of assets as the first priority, and hope our efforts on security will be recognized by #MrWhiteHat and strengthen users’ trust. Stay tuned.”

The bug bounty program will run in cooperation with Immunefi, a leading bug bounty platform. According to Immunefi, the program will launch on Aug 17 and the rewards include, “$100,000 per valid bug bounty, with a total bounty pool of $500,000.”

As the DeFi space continues its ascent in popularity and conventionality, security will become an increasingly important topic. The Poly Network is now in the spotlight as it reevaluates its current performance in the space and modifies for a more secure future.