Top hacker attacks
Being cautious while browsing the net is as important nowadays as ever before as our lives migrate more and more into the Internet. Even though new technologies including blockchain evolve extremely fast, and cryptocurrencies are believed to be less prone to hacker attacks, wrongdoers of all kinds are looking for new ways to use our oversight to their benefit.
Recent Hacker Attacks
In this article, we’ll look at some of the recent hacker attacks and try to learn from these situations.
Malware from an email
In February 2023, Malwarebytes, an anti-malware software company, informed crypto investors that two malicious files have been going around in several countries, including the US, the UK, Turkey, and the Philippines. First, users open a cryptocurrency-themed email that has a malicious file attached. Then the program encrypts the user’s files and drops a ransom note with payment instructions.
The lesson: use anti-malware software and never open attachments if you don’t trust the sender.
A sneaky crypto miner
In September 2022, a fake Google Translate app was found on a platform for downloading programs. It installed a cryptocurrency miner on people’s computers without them knowing. The app obviously is not affiliated with Google but is designed to look like the legitimate Google Translate app would if it actually existed.
Once installed, the app starts to run a hidden miner that consumes the computer’s processing power to mine Monero cryptocurrency (XMR). Then the developers of malware can withdraw the crypto, exchange XMR to BTC, etc.
The lesson: only download apps from the official app stores.
Even the biggest players can be vulnerable
In a cyber attack that happened in August 2022, 8,000 Solana wallets were targeted. The hackers managed to find vulnerabilities in the code of a few software-based wallets (Slope, Phantom, etc.) Hackers managed to steal over $4.5 million worth of crypto, including SOL, USDC, and other tokens built on Solana.
No sites that offer SOL exchange were affected, nor did any hardware wallets’ users suffer from the attack.
The lesson: it is better to use hardware wallets to keep your crypto.
Even self-custody wallets are not the panacea
At the end of February 2023, a hardware crypto wallet company Trezor announced that its users could be a target of a phishing attack. The cyber criminals aim at getting hold of users’ assets by making them enter their recovery phrases on a look-alike of the real Trezor website. The attackers also reach out to Trezor users informing them that there’s a security breach or some suspicious activity on their account.
Lesson: always remember that your key phrase is the most important thing to keep your assets safe from criminals; don’t use it unless you’re 100% sure that the site is legit.
To sum up, no matter where you choose to keep your assets, there will always be at least some risks. That’s why it’s so important for all of us to be attentive and always keep an eye on the new types of attacks and schemes to be safe.
