Avalanche-based Web3 social media application Stars Arena recently announced that it has successfully secured funding to address a significant security breach that resulted in a $3 million loss due to an exploit on October 6th. Additionally, the Stars Arena team has stated that they plan to reopen the smart contract after a comprehensive security audit has been conducted. The announcement regarding these developments was made by the Stars Arena team on X (formerly known as Twitter), where they mentioned that they have secured the resources to close the gap caused by the exploit.
Stars Arena plans to review the security of its platform
Additionally, a special white hat development team is coming in to rapidly review the security of the platform. The initial confirmation of the hack occurred on October 6th when Stars Arena urged its users not to deposit any funds while they investigated the security breach. Blockchain security firms, including SlowMist, closely tracked the actions of the hacker. They revealed that the attacker managed to drain 266,103 AVAX, which was valued at nearly $3 million at the time, from Stars Arena. Subsequently, the stolen funds were transferred to the Fixed Float crypto exchange.
A few hours following the hack, the Stars Arena team issued an apology for the exploit. They also disclosed that their website was under a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. In their statement, the team expressed deep regret for the incident, acknowledging that their smart contract had been exploited, resulting in the loss of funds. They assured their community that they were actively working on a solution to recover everyone’s funds and enable Stars Arena to move forward. Looking ahead, the team emphasized the importance of ensuring the platform’s security is “watertight” before relaunching the smart contract.
The company’s resilience in a challenging landscape
While the exact timeline for the project’s reopening remains unclear, the team has indicated that it will happen “very soon.” This incident marks the second exploit suffered by Stars Arena within a week. On October 5th, it was reported that the platform had successfully patched a vulnerability after a hacker had siphoned $2,000 worth of AVAX from the platform. In the wake of the security breaches and facing criticism from members of the crypto community on platforms like Crypto Twitter, the Stars Arena team responded by denouncing what they referred to as “coordinated fud” (fear, uncertainty, doubt) and reaffirmed their commitment to moving forward despite the challenges.
Stars Arena is among the growing number of social finance platforms that have emerged in the wake of Friend.tech’s entry into the market in August. These platforms aim to harness the potential of decentralized technologies and blockchain to create innovative and community-driven solutions in the world of social media and finance. As Stars Arena works towards securing its platform and addressing the recent security breaches, its ability to bounce back from these challenges will likely serve as a test of resilience and commitment in the rapidly evolving landscape of Web3 and decentralized applications.
