In March of this year, the developer community uncovered a shocking security incident—millions of downloads of JavaScript packages embedded with malicious code for stealing cryptocurrencies. These seemingly harmless open-source components actually carried carefully crafted hacking malware designed for crypto theft. Attackers polluted core dependency libraries within the npm ecosystem, building an automated malicious code propagation mechanism.

**How the Three-Layer Hidden Attack Works**

The core of the attack is "dependency hijacking"—when you import a polluted third-party library into your project, the malicious code silently activates, beginning to scan your local crypto wallet files. This scheme has three cunning designs:

First, **environment disguise**. The program only activates under specific regional IPs or system languages, pretending to be innocent in sandbox testing environments. This way, security checks can't detect it at all.

Second, **key sniffing**. For desktop wallet applications built with Electron, it directly steals private key information using system file permissions. Users are completely unaware.

Third, **on-chain money laundering**. The stolen assets are converted into privacy coins via cross-chain bridges and then injected into liquidity pools of certain DEXs for cleaning. Once funds enter the DeFi black hole, tracking becomes almost impossible.

**Why is the Open Source Ecosystem So Fragile**

This incident exposes a fatal flaw in the open-source world: over 78% of JavaScript projects depend on third-party libraries that have never undergone security audits. Hackers only need to compromise one maintainer's account to inject malicious code into the entire dependency chain. Once the source of pollution is contaminated, all downstream projects that call it are affected. The stolen assets are then funneled into underground financial networks through mixing mechanisms. This is no longer just a technical issue; it resembles a new form of economic threat in the digital age.