Arbitrum Recovers Hacked DAO Account After Attackers Spread Fake Airdrop Hype
Another day, another crypto hack—only this time, the target wasn't a wallet, but a Twitter account. Arbitrum's decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) just wrestled back control of its official X profile after bad actors hijacked it to pump a bogus token airdrop.
The Social Engineering Playbook
Attackers seized the @ArbitrumDAO handle and immediately launched a classic scam: promise free money, create urgency, and watch the clicks roll in. They posted links to a fraudulent airdrop announcement, designed to drain wallets rather than fill them. The community flag went up fast—users spotted the phishing attempt and sounded the alarm.
Damage Control in Real Time
Arbitrum's team moved quickly to suspend the compromised account, limiting its reach. They issued warnings across other channels, telling followers to ignore the fake giveaway. No protocol funds were touched—the breach was purely social, not technical. Still, it exposed the soft underbelly of decentralized governance: a single point of failure in community communication.
The Security Wake-Up Call
This wasn't a smart contract exploit. It was a reminder that in crypto, your Twitter password can be as critical as your private key. DAOs and projects rely on social platforms for updates, proposals, and voting—making them prime targets for impersonation and fraud. Multi-factor authentication isn't just a suggestion; it's a necessity.
Trust, but Verify—Always
The incident reinforces the oldest rule in crypto: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Official airdrops never demand private keys or upfront payments. They're announced through verified channels, with clear instructions and timelines. When in doubt, check the project's official website or Discord—not a tweet.
Another finance lesson wrapped in a hack: where there's hype, there's someone trying to monetize your FOMO. Stay skeptical, stay secure, and maybe don't click that shiny 'claim' button just yet.
Hackers used Arbitrum’s DAO account to push an airdrop phishing link
As reported by Cryptopolitan yesterday, the compromised account was used to spread messages about supposed usage-based rewards and token distributions. Several posts made by the hackers suggested that user actions such as bridging assets, swapping tokens, providing liquidity, and participating in governance could qualify for benefits.
The deleted messages sought to create exclusivity, claiming rewards were limited to “real users” and exempting so-called “opportunistic actors.” Other posts reassured Arbitrum holders who saw the first post late that “it isn’t the end of airdrop season.”
Such tactics are common in social engineering campaigns aimed at stealing from crypto communities. Attackers convince digital currency investors to hand over their assets by telling them to click on links that eventually drain their wallets.
The governance account breach is the latest security-related episode involving Arbitrum projects in just two months. On January 5, two projects deployed by the same developer suffered unauthorized withdrawals totaling an estimated $1.5 million.
According to blockchain monitoring service Cyvers Alert, hackers executed several suspicious transactions on Arbitrum after gaining administrative access and replacing smart contracts with malicious versions.
Preliminary findings suggest the deployer behind the USDGambit and TLP projects may have lost control of their account, allowing the attacker to deploy a new contract with ProxyAdmin permissions. The stolen assets were later bridged back to the ethereum main network and then passed through crypto-mixing services.
Arbitrum price slides 20% weekly, bearish signals flashing
Amid the governance incident, Arbitrum has been moving within a defined intraday range, between a session low of $0.1286 and a high of $0.1384. Market watchers observed the price pivoting NEAR $0.1356 at the time of this reporting, close to flipping its 24-hour losses.
If the asset holds above that level for the rest of the week, the $0.1350 could be the platform bulls use to create a firmer charge towards a six-month local high of $0.2, while a drop below risks retesting session lows in the $0.1280 range.
Within a one- to seven-day timeframe, buyers defended the $0.1286 support level as a bullish continuation level. However, a failure to break above the $0.1384 resistance on strong volume soon WOULD favor a bearish scenario and a deeper correction towards a $0.1153 support region.
In other news, Arbitrum is scheduled to host a community Ask Me Anything session on X on Thursday. The network’s team has opened the floor for members of the community team to ask ecosystem representatives about recent developments and ongoing projects.
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