A Checkmate to Hackers
By Joshua Nyaga
The EOS blockchain is built with the mission to protect life, liberty and property.It has stood the test and has proven it can achieve that, all within a few days of launch. As it stands, EOS has an interim constitution that protects accounts from the activities of bad actors. This being enforced by the EOS911 initiative that seeks to protecting those individuals that fell prey to phishing attacks. These attacks were targeted towards token holders who had registered their ERC20 tokens on untrusted third party sites.These malicious sites supplied token holders with fake private keys while retaining the legitimate keys, effectively robbing the innocent token holders. All this was happening during the time of the EOS launch after which the tokens were frozen. The victims of the scam have been making reports through EOS911.They have been able to see the process of justice on EOS starting to take shape with the freezing of the accounts that had the token balances.
On 17 June 2018, the top 21 Block Producers unanimously agreed to protect tokens that may have been compromised through phishing attacks and other scams where member’s private keys were compromised. It is due to their quick action that the tokens at stake have been able to remain secure. Since the reporting of the incident happened within the 72 hours of staking, at the time of the mainet launch, the swift freeze restricted the tokens from moving outside the EOS Network. The top 21 Block Producers conferred and agreed to err on the side of caution, they then froze the accounts in lieu of official instructions, due to the time sensitive nature of the matter.
The EOS Core Arbitration Forum (ECAF) has since released a formal Emergency measure of Protection Order that clearly allows Block Producers not to process transactions for the accounts in question. This sends a clear message to the nefarious actors out there from day one, that EOS will not tolerate the blatant disregard for people's assets that has tarnished the blockchain world. EOS has also shown itself to be a flexible and highly functional community that is led not by a romanticised vision of justice, but by a utilitarian and highly proactive drive towards protecting Life, Liberty and Property.
A copy of the ECAF Emergency Measure of Protection Order
EOS Nairobi supports the actions taken by the top 21 Block Producers in coming up with a timely solution that was in line with the spirit of the EOS interim constitution and was driven by the need to protect the community as a whole.
We note that there is a need for on-chain consensus tools that will allow token holders to vote for issues such as the constitution. EOS Nairobi developer teams are ready to support the development of these tools that will grow the ecosystem.