Qubic Network Halts After 1,404 Wallets Drained Due to Weak Seed Generation

The Qubic network has been temporarily halted following a significant security breach that resulted in the draining of 1,404 wallets, leading to a loss of around $1.29 million. The incident, which occurred between October 17 and 18, was attributed to weak wallet seed generation, specifically affecting seeds created in certain environments.

According to Qubic, the attack began at 23:42 UTC on October 17 and was completed by 01:26 UTC on October 18. The attacker exploited vulnerabilities in the randomness of wallet seed generation, particularly in web-wallet environments that utilized JavaScript's Math.random function, which is not suitable for cryptographic purposes.

In response to the attack, Qubic's Computors coordinated a network halt at tick 85,371,949 to prevent further transactions and secure the stolen funds. Approximately 87.1% of the drained assets remained on the Qubic network, while the remaining 12.9% were transferred to an exchange, which acted quickly to freeze the receiving account.

Qubic's team is currently working on identifying affected users and drafting proposals for the Computor quorum to address the situation. Meanwhile, exchanges have temporarily suspended QUBIC deposits and withdrawals as a precautionary measure.

This incident is part of a troubling trend in the cryptocurrency space, with multiple exploits reported in October alone, totaling around $6.2 million in losses. The Qubic breach serves as a stark reminder of the importance of robust wallet security and the potential consequences of weak seed generation.