The Gala Games operator recently fell victim to a security attack that enabled the attacker to mint 200 million GALA tokens and sell a small portion before the wallet was frozen. But, in an unexpected move, the attacker recently returned $22 million in Ether (ETH) to Gala Games.
The security attack
The security attack took place on May 20 and enabled the attacker to mint 200 million GALA tokens. A small proportion of these tokens were sold before the wallet was frozen. Gala Games reacted quickly to the attack and used a new blocklist protocol to freeze 4.4 billion GALA tokens within 45 minutes.
The return of the striker
On May 21, the attacker’s wallet sent 5,913.2 ETH, equivalent to $22.3 million, to Gala Games. This represents almost the market value of the 600 million GALA tokens sold by the attacker the previous day.
Gala Games’ answer
Gala Games stated that the return of the attacker was the result of its “swift and efficient response” as well as the involvement of federal law enforcement agencies. Gala Games CEO Eric Schiermeyer also said that the team would probably buy and burn equivalent GALA tokens using the returned ETH.
The community
The Gala Games community was divided over the identity and method of the attacker. Some community members claimed that Gala Games had stated that the attacker was a security contract who had made a mistake by connecting to the wallet without a VPN. However, Gala Games has not confirmed the identity or method of the attacker.