NEAR Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin warned of serious cybersecurity risks due to widespread software vulnerabilities. According to him, outdated software and authentication systems expose internet services to increasing risks. Polosukhin highlighted PHP-based systems, TLS certificates, Node.js, and LiteLLM, urging for improved protection using AI. He noted that vulnerabilities in one software component can increase risks for dependent services.
In a statement on platform X, Polosukhin described the situation as a “Security Armageddon” and provided technical examples of vulnerabilities. On September 24, PHP maintainers published a security advisory on the potential exploitation of PHP-based systems. On October 1, NEAR Intents resumed operations after a $3.8 million exploit involving USDT on the BNB Smart Chain network. Polosukhin described how the attack exploited the interaction between the Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure and the Intents smart contract. Polosukhin called the use of uncensored AI models for improving vulnerability analysis and threat response an important step. He also pointed to the need to replace traditional API keys with cryptographic authentication systems and suggested conducting regular updates, patching vulnerable components, and changing credentials.
At the time of writing, NEAR was trading around $5.02, down 3.61% over 24 hours, although the previous week's gain was 8.21%. NEAR's market capitalization was approaching $6.57 billion, with a trading volume of about $1.08 billion. Open futures contracts fell by 7.45%, amounting to $1.50 billion. Polosukhin emphasized that NEAR and unrelated applications remained unharmed from the latest incident. He promised to fully compensate affected users for their losses.
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