Privacy Protocol Umbra shuts down the frontend to prevent Kelp attackers, Tornado Cash co-founder says this move is insufficient to avoid regulatory accountability

BlockBeats News, April 22 — Privacy encryption protocol Umbra has shut down its front-end website to make it more difficult for hackers to transfer stolen funds. Umbra stated that approximately $800k in stolen funds have flowed through its protocol, and the front-end shutdown is a “maintenance mode” decision, which will be reversed after ensuring it does not affect the recovery efforts.

This move comes shortly after the Kelp protocol was attacked, losing over $280 million, with the attacker suspected to be a North Korean hacker attempting to transfer funds from Ethereum cross-chain protocols like Umbra to Bitcoin.

However, Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm warned that simply shutting down the front-end may not be enough to avoid regulatory accountability. He pointed out that in his case, authorities considered “changing the front-end as equivalent to controlling the entire protocol,” and that “if you can modify the user interface, including updating through a new version on IPFS, then you have full control over the protocol.”

Umbra responded that its protocol mainly “protects the identity of recipients, not senders,” and all stolen funds flowing through its protocol can be traced. It has also contacted security researchers.