Note: This article is posted for Bitcoin enthusiasts — it’s sounds quite serious but is over my technical expertise!!

Bitcoin’s Lightning Network was designed to make Bitcoin transactions faster and cheaper. But according to a recent discovery by a now former Lightning developer Antoine Riard, there’s a major security flaw in the network that puts users’ funds at risk. Taking to a thread on the Linux Foundation’s public mailing list, Riard detailed the new discovery of a security risk in the Lightning Network that could allow hackers to easily get control of the Layer 2 protocol.

Riard claims that there’s a new malevolent danger out there called the replacement cycling attack, which puts the network in a perilous position. Cycling attack works by specifically targeting payment channels to steal funds from mempools. These attacks are not easy but can be carried out by very sophisticated players. It essentially works by changing the transaction signature of a victim’s timeout transaction in a mempool by a new transaction without leaving a trace on the network. Although simple cycling attacks can be easily mitigated, Riard warns that a very sophisticated attack could leave payment channels exposed to hackers.

https://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-developer-backdoor-in-lightning-network/