Drift Faces $285 Million Exploit Due to Social Engineering Tactics

Drift experienced a significant exploit amounting to $285 million, attributed to suspected North Korean operatives employing in-person social engineering against its contributors. According to NS3.AI, the group targeted contributors at several major industry conferences over a six-month period leading up to the exploit. TRM Labs identified this incident as the largest DeFi hack of 2026 to date and the second-largest exploit in Solana's history. The attacker reportedly utilized CarbonVote Token to secure collateral acceptance, increase withdrawal limits, and extract assets, including USDC.