Hacker attacking Pump.fun was arrested, the team accused of “stealing” 2 million USD

London police have just arrested a suspect in an attack to steal cryptocurrency on the Solana platform.

The person arrested was Jarett Dunn, a former contract worker, known online by the handle @STACCoverflow. According to sources, he was arrested in the early hours of May 18 after a 26-hour investigation operation.

This campaign was initiated by a third party hiring a private intelligence firm. They tracked Dunn down through social media posts and other public information, eventually determining he was staying at the Middle Eight Hotel in Covent Garden, London.

Dunn is said to have revealed himself on social media under the handle @STACCoverflow, a reference to his real name and the French phrase “j’arrête” (meaning “I’m done”).

However, after being arrested, Dunn was released on bail. He is expected to remain in the UK until his trial in August.

I am once again without any of my 2fa for a lil while. I spent overnight in custody as the pump team alleges I stole 2m of their Ill gotten gains with conspiracy to steal another 80m.

/x https://t.co/D8CBjdB9nG

— free stacc (@jarettdunn) May 18, 2024

On May 16, the pump.fun platform, which simplifies the creation of new cryptocurrencies on the Solana (SOL) network, was hacked, resulting in the loss of over 12,300 SOL, worth approximately $2 million American dollars.

The attacker used a huge cryptocurrency loan (flash loan) from Raydium, a lending platform on Solana, to carry out this act. Flash loan is a tool in the field of decentralized finance (DeFi) that allows users to borrow large amounts of money.

In this case, the attacker manipulated pump.fun’s supply-based cryptocurrency value setting mechanism. By reaching 100% on this system, he stole money from Raydium, paid off the loan and absconded with a large sum of money.

https://t.co/uE2QNKXkIT coin migration issue post-mortem

TL;DR:

1. the https://t.co/uE2QNKXkIT contracts are safe. they have always been safe
2. a former employee used their privileged position at the company to misappropriate ~12.3K SOL (~$1.9m)
3. https://t.co/uE2QNKXkIT is…

— pump.fun (@pumpdotfun) May 16, 2024

After the incident, pump.fun coordinated with authorities to investigate.

Igor Igamberdiev, a researcher at the company Wintermute, was one of the first to suspect that an internal private key leak facilitated the attack. Later, Dunn, under the handle @STACCoverflow, admitted his role in the incident through a series of social media posts. He expressed a desire to “change the course of history” and mentioned mental health issues and sadness over his mother’s death.

Dunn also vowed to distribute the stolen funds to holders of other cryptocurrencies on Solana. However, he did not provide details about the distribution process or deadlines.

Dunn’s posts suggest his motivation may have stemmed from emotional pressure rather than financial gain.