Drift Protocol hack: attorney warns of “civil negligence”

A crypto attorney says the Drift Protocol $280 million exploit could qualify as “civil negligence,” arguing the Solana-based DeFi team failed basic security duties. Ariel Givner claims the Drift team did not use proper operational security, including keeping signing keys on separate, air-gapped systems and exercising due diligence when interacting with blockchain developers met at industry conferences. Givner’s account points to social engineering and developer infiltration: attackers allegedly built rapport with the team via Telegram over months, then sent malicious links and embedded malware that compromised developer machines. She criticized Drift for opening “sketchy” code repositories and downloading fake apps tied to multisignature controls. Drift’s own post-incident update states the attack was planned for six months. The threat actors first approached in October 2025 at a major crypto conference, then escalated to malware delivery once trust was established. Drift said, with medium-high confidence, the same actors behind the October 2024 Radiant Capital hack were involved. The report notes class action lawsuit advertising is circulating, and Cointelegraph did not receive a response from the Drift team by publication time. The key trading relevance is heightened counterparty and smart-contract/systemic risk perception around DeFi teams’ security processes, particularly against North Korea-linked threat actors.