Milady Maker is an NFT collection hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. In September 2023, the project experienced a hack in which an insider managed to steal approximately $1 million in fees and several of the project’s code bases and social media accounts.

Inside the Attack

Remilia is the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) behind the MIlady Maker NFT. Bonkler is an experimental finance art project also managed by the DAO.

The malicious insider used Bonkler to divert an estimated $1 million in fees that belonged to Remilia Corporation. However, the attacker couldn’t access the project’s reserves, primary contract, or NFTs.

In addition to stealing fees, the malicious insider also seized the project’s code bases and some social media accounts, seizing two and locking a third. These account takeovers were performed in partnership with two other team members and held for ransom.

Lessons Learned from the Attack

The Milady hack was performed by contractors hired by the organization. The developer managed to steal significant funds and take over multiple project accounts, holding them for ransom.

This hack demonstrates the risks of poor access management for a crypto project. For example, the use of a multi-signature wallet to manage contracts likely could have prevented the theft of funds.