In the early hours of Friday, the official X account (formerly Twitter) of EigenLayer, a prominent re-recording protocol, was compromised and used to promote a fraudulent airdrop, according to a confirmation from the developer, Eigen Labs.
The hackers misused the account to share misleading messages about a fake redistribution of EIGEN tokens for season 2 of EigenLayers airdrop. This malicious campaign attempted to trick users into using suspicious links and making claims under pretexts.
The aftermath and the details
Following the hack, Eigen Labs immediately warned users about the breach and urged them to avoid interacting with the messages and the fraudulent links.
The developer emphasized the importance of verifying every communication and ensuring that users were engaging with the legitimate EigenLayer domain, “eigenlayer.xyz.”
The @ownlayer handle is damaged. Please do not respond to suspicious links and actively check whether you are involved in ‘https://t.co/tg4hzOLtP5‘.
An update will be provided once secured.
— Eigen Labs (@eigen_labs) October 18, 2024
The fake airdrop posts on EigenLayer’s X account followed a specific pattern, starting with a post promoting a fake EIGEN token reallocation for Season 2 stakeholders.
This first message contained a malicious link to trick users into participating in the fraudulent scheme. Shortly afterwards, the hackers posted another message urging users to file a claim, and eventually shared a third “final call” post to reinforce the urgency.
These messages closely matched the legitimate announcement for EigenLayer’s actual Season 2 stake drop, released in September, and whose claim period had already ended.
The bust
Scam Sniffer, a crypto anti-scam platform, quickly identified the fake promotion, confirming that the messages contained malicious links.
🚨 EigenLayer’s X account was hacked and posted phishing tweets. pic.twitter.com/lInHpMIEIM
— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) October 18, 2024
The platform warned users of the risk and advised them not to engage with the messages. Meanwhile, blockchain researcher, ZachXBT, has already issued an early warning on his Telegram channel.
ZachXBT informed its subscribers that EigenLayer’s X account had been compromised. He warned against clicking on links shared from the account during the breach.
Notably, the scam incident involving EigenLayer is not new tactic. Hackers have often used this method to trick investors into scams.
Recently the The FBI arrested the perpetrator behind the hack of the US SEC’s X account in Januarywhich led to a false post claiming that the US SEC had approved the listing of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds – a move that the SEC had not officially announced.
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