Ethena Labs Halts Website After Domain Account Hack

Ethena Labs, the organization responsible for the decentralized synthetic dollar protocol, has suspended its website activities after a security breach on its domain registrar’s account. To avert further harm, the company posted a notice on X (previously Twitter) and instructed users not to engage with any site or application that purports to be the Ethena frontend.

Ethena Labs Halts Website After Domain Hack

Ethena Labs stated that the breach of its domain registrar would lead to a frontend attack, which involves the substitution of a project’s official website with a fake one. In such situations, users who have no idea about the existence of such sites are likely to lose their money when they engage with the fake site. 

The Ethena domain registrar account was recently compromised and we have taken steps to deactivate the site until further notice.

The protocol is unaffected and funds are safe.

Please do not interact with any site or application purporting to be the Ethena frontend.

— Ethena Labs (@ethena_labs) September 18, 2024

According to Ethena Labs, nothing is jeopardized in the Ethereum-based protocol it uses, and all the users’ funds are safe.

The company has requested all users to withdraw their wallets from any Ethena linked site and avoid signing any transactions in the meantime due to the ongoing investigation. As a precautionary measure, Ethena has decided to shut down the frontend until it can guarantee the security of the platform.

Crypto Industry Faces Increasing Frontend Attacks

Frontend attacks are slowly gaining attention in the cryptocurrency market as one of the most common threats. Similar to conventional hacks that target codes, these hacks directly target the site and directs the users to fake sites that are created to steal money or other sensitive details.

Ethena Labs is not the only one that has been targeted in such a manner; other high profile projects that have been hacked include Compound Finance, Celer Network, and Curve Finance.

In the case of Ethena, security firm Blockaid also posted alerts, telling people not to interact with the hacked site and to remove their wallets from the internet to avoid loss. Furthermore, MetaMask, a DeFi wallet, also labelled the Ethena website as deceptive and has given an advisory to its users.

Ethena Labs Assures Users Protocol is Unaffected

Even though the breach occurred on the frontend, Ethena Labs assured users that the core protocol is safe and not tampered with. The decentralized platform that introduced the synthetic dollar USDe is still operational without any problems. Ethena’s USDe stablecoin employs a derivative hedging model with Ether and Bitcoin to uphold the stablecoin value against the US dollar.

According to the report, the company is in the process of determining the type of attack and is seeking to get its website back online. At the time of reporting, Ethena Labs had not yet responded to requests for further comments.

This incident comes amid a broader rise in phishing attempts and similar attacks across the crypto landscape. In addition to the Ethena hack, several other projects have seen their domain name service (DNS) providers compromised, leading to users being redirected to phishing websites. These attacks often target DeFi users and aim to steal wallet information, seed phrases, or personal details.