Hologram Hack Investigation Leads to Arrests

• Italian authorities arrested two in association with the Holograph hack.
• They are being extradited to France to face the tune of their criminal activity.

Two individuals were arrested in connection with the Hologram protocol hack orchestrated on June 13, which led to €13 million in losses. The arrests occurred through the joint efforts of multiple national agencies, including France’s Office for the Prevention of Cybercrime (OFAC) in collaboration with the Brigade de Répression du Banditisme (BRI), Europol, the Italian Directorate of Anti-Mafia Investigations, and the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS). The accused were found in Italy and will be extradited to France to face charges after a two-month search.

Due to the ongoing investigation, Hologram said, “the suspects names cannot be publicized yet according to French authorities.” However, it has promised to “share more information on asset recovery for the Holograph ecosystem as the proceedings develop.”

Holograph is an NFT protocol based on Omnichain, allowing efficient cross-chain interoperability by enabling token portability across blockchains while the tokens retain their contract addresses. The criminals’ actions wreaked havoc when they manipulated the platform’s contracts to mint 1 billion HLG tokens, Holograph’s native asset, through nine minting transactions. The asset’s price dropped by over 80% hours after the attack due to the inflated supply.

Initial Report From Cybersecurity Firm Linked a Single Bad Actor to the Hack

The protocol teamed up with security firm Halborn to investigate the hack, unearthing revelations of a “disgruntled former contractor” who used their admin access to mint and steal the funds. This bad actor offloaded the exploited tokens in the open market to further profit from their actions. They bridged these assets to Ethereum, on which they dumped a portion. Nearly 200 million tokens were frozen by centralized exchanges.

While investigations from Holograph’s side revealed one bad actor, national authorities intervened to find another associate, leading to the news of two arrests. They have also confiscated devices used for illicit activity and a significant amount of assets. As the saga ensues and the criminals face charges soon, more details about the exploit will emerge.