Algorand suffers MyAlgo attack and urges users to withdraw crypto

Algorand has suffered a cyber attack affecting MyAlgo users, and warns them to withdraw crypto from the wallet.

The foundation also warns that the layer 1 blockchain has not been compromised.

Algorand and the cyber attack on the MyAlgo crypto wallet

Algorand’s Layer 1 blockchain warned its users of the cyber attack that affected users of MyAlgo, a third-party wallet created by Rand Labs.

In a roundup of tweets, Algorand explains what happened and urges users to withdraw their assets from the wallet if they have not already done so.

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Algorand Foundation is bringing in Halborn, best-in-class blockchain security firm, to investigate and combat this on behalf of those impacted.

— Algorand Foundation (@AlgoFoundation) March 7, 2023

Basically, Algorand points out that among the affected users are members and builders of its own community. Not only that, to respond to the breach, the foundation hired Halborn, a top blockchain security firm. 

Next, Algorand also engaged Chainalysis to help it track compromised wallet transfers and freeze funds if they are deposited in an exchange that integrates and acts on Chainalysis’ data.

Algorand attempts to recover stolen funds on Changenow, Kucoin and Circle exchanges

Algorand continues its update to its community informing them that the appropriate law enforcement agencies have been called in.

The goal is to attempt to recover stolen funds from the private wallets of the following exchanges and partners: Changenow, Kucoin, and Circle, all of whom know the addresses of the attackers’ wallets.

Not only that, the protocol’s invitation is to immediately withdraw the funds from MyAlgo Wallet, or reconnect them to new accounts created on other wallets or hardware wallets.

Finally, Algorand stresses that the protocol and blockchain have not been compromised and that it will continue to share upcoming updates publicly with the community.

The third place in the CoinCodex ranking

Recently, CoinCodex analyzed six Layer 1s including Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, Avalanche, Algorand and Internet Computer by ranking them by performance.

Algorand came in third place with its strength being speed. And indeed, the protocol manages to process 20 TPS every 4.5 seconds and a processing of 1,200 TPS with instantaneous finality that it wants to increase to 3,000 TPS.

Overtaking Algorand was Avalanche in second place with 4,500 TPS in 2.5 seconds and Internet Computer with 11,500 TPS per second.

Algorand’s protocol is based on Pure Proof-of-Stake (PPoS), and those who submit blocks and verify them are selected by the Verifiable Random Function (VRF) algorithm. In contrast to classical PoS protocols, Algorand manages to speed up the computation process and thus be more scalable.