KICKICO is an ICO project that is running in the Ethereum Blockchain that aims to be a platform for other ICOs to launch upon. It was hacked of $8 mln, but, unlike the usual manner in which cryptocurrency hacks happen, this had to do with the smart contract.
However, the way in which the hack was carried out means that the keys were replicated rather than destroyed meaning that the funds will be repaid and that the company has quickly regained control of the situation.
The hackers were able to gain direct access to the smart contract of the KICKICO Blockchain network by obtaining the private key of the KickCoin smart contract and make off with 70 mln KICK worth $7.7 mln.
Complete access
This hack allowed the thieves to have complete access to the KICKICO smart contracts and during the time that they were in control they destroyed 40 addresses and created 40 new accounts with identical balances, essentially stealing user funds from 40 different accounts.
However, it is not all bad news for the KICKICO investors as the stolen funds from the Blockchain were not permanently destroyed but replicated, thus the fixed supply of KICKICO remained the same subsequent to the breach.
Fully reimburse
The announcement was made via a Medium article.
“KICKICO has experienced a security breach, which resulted in the attackers gaining access to the account of the KICK smart contract- tokens of the KICKICO platform. The team learned about this incident after the complaints of several victims, who did not find tokens worth 800 thousand dollars in their wallets,” A spokesperson for the company said.
The KICK team was able to regain control soon after the hack and replaced the compromised private key with the private key in its cold wallet in order to protect against any other losses.
“Thanks to the rapid response of our community and our coordinated teamwork, we were able to regain control over the tokens and prevent further possible losses by replacing the compromised private key with the private key of the cold storage,” the KICKICO team added.
The team also explained that those 40 addresses that were affected will be fully reimbursed with their KICKICO coins.
Bigger target
One of the reasons that KICKICO may have become a victim of the attack could be the recent growth in the value of their coin. Earlier this month, KICKICO saw two big spikes in price which saw it triple in value going from $0.04 (the ICO price) to 0.12
KICKICO is an online blockchain technology-based platform for fundraising in cryptocurrencies. It collected more than 84,000 ETH during its ICO, and was named "ICO of the Year" by BTC CIS AWARDS.
Arman Shirinyan
Alex Dovbnya
