As I wrote in a previous article, the first little exploit on Stars Arena was a red flag. The app was launched just over a week ago and quickly gained a cult following among Avalanche community members. However, there were some early warning signs that the app was not secure.
On Friday, a Twitter user named @0xlilitch warned of potential security issues with Stars Arena. However, Ava Labs founder Emin Gun Sirer seemed to downplay these concerns.
On Saturday, it was revealed that Stars Arena had been drained of nearly all of its locked funds, worth around $3 million in AVAX tokens. This exploit came even as some Ava Labs employees had spoken in favor of the development.
The hack is a reminder of the risks involved in using new and unproven crypto applications. It is important to do your own research and be aware of the potential risks before investing any money.
It should also be noted that some users of Friend.Tech, the original SocialFi app that Stars Arena forked, had also their funds drained through a SIM-swap attack, where exploiters gain control of a user’s mobile number to intercept two-factor authentication (2FA) codes to access accounts. Therefore, I continue using Friend.Tech, but without using my mobile number... Please note that 2FA through mobile phone number is not safe at all, whatever the app, since it is easy to intercept other users' codes by contacting operators. If you use Friend.Tech the right way, you should be safe, although nothing can be guaranteed at 100%. You can use my invite codes below to connect to Friend.Tech:
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice.
