Blockchain Security or Vulnerability

Blockchain is meant to be more secure, working as a distributed network that enables decentralization of data, which makes it a more secure and hard to tamper technology. So how does the decentralized nature of a public ledger network that allows organizations to connect to it via nodes for data storage and processing stay safe from attack?

A recent example of the vulnerability of blockchain is the recent hack of Binance (BNB Chain and Binance Smart Chain), which had to be switched off after a spike in irregular activity was detected. According to blockchain security firm SlowMist, the exploit allowed cybercriminals to get away with over $570 million in digital assets, including Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Fantom, Arbitrum, and Optimism. BNB Chain assured the community that "all funds are safe." The BNB tokens were not pre-existing tokens stolen from wallets, but instead wholly created by the attacker.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao later posted an update pointed to a thread on Reddit where the company provided more technical details, clarified that “the current impact estimate is around $100m USD equivalent" funds that had been stolen.

So how are attacks successful if Blockchain is said to be more secure. The concepts behind blockchain technology make it nearly impossible to hack into a blockchain. However, there are weaknesses outside of the blockchain that create opportunities for thieves. In the case of the recent Binance attack, it is believed that broken cryptography was exploited, with broken proof verification using arbitrary messaging forged by hackers.