The team behind the Parity Ethereum software client released new details on how a critical code defect resulted in the $ 160 million freeze of Ether.
In the current state of affairs, there is no immediate solution to renewing access to these funds – a situation that Parity has recognized as causing "distress and anxiety" within the community. According to the publication, there is "no timetable" for the release of the ETH locked – a move that may require a platform-wide upgrade to restore the functionality of the more than 500 affected portfolios.
The hacking, which saw the "accidental" deletion of the code library supporting Parity's multi-signature portfolios (those requiring multiple keys to issue transactions), was due to an oversight in the portfolio code. Although the risk was identified on Github in August, it was misinterpreted by the parity team, and no action was taken to secure the portfolios.
With regard to the process of finding a solution, Parity stated that she would work on ethereum improvement protocols that could offer a way to reestablish the company. 39; access. Following the attack, the discussion went on to find out whether updating the code to solve the problem would constitute a "bailout" similar to the DAO controversy of last year.
Regarding the potential release of locked millions, Parity says it intends to "follow the will of the community" by deploying code fixes.
The team explained:
"Parity Technologies will manage much of the development work around these proposals and work constructively with the Ethereum Foundation team and the community for the further development of the protocol layer. "
In the future, Parity argued that "broader and more formal procedures" are needed for contract security, which applies not only to parity, but also to the entire platform. Ethereum.
Last week's developments affected up to 584 portfolios, according to Parity's tracking website. Some of them belonged to high – profile startups, including Polkadot, the founder of Parity, Gavin Wood, who had frozen $ 98 million in the aether.
To avoid any additional problem, Parity stated that it was removing the ability for users to deploy multi-sig wallets "until we have the proper security and privacy procedures." operations in place. "
Image of the frozen branch via Shutterstock
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