Rise in SIM-Swapping Attacks Targets Crypto Founders Amid Festive Season
Summary:
In the week leading up to Christmas there has been a surge in SIM-swapping cyber-attacks, targeting the founders of Manifold Trading, Rug Radio, and more. Despite protective measures, hackers gained access to their accounts, sharing harmful links. While the victims assured that no critical fund-related data was compromised, the incidents point towards an alarming trend where attackers are increasingly targeting crypto-related ventures and imposing a risk on associated banking and credit information. Using an authenticator app is advised as a preventive measure against these types of hacks.
As the Christmas week progresses, an increase in SIM-swapping cyber-attacks is noted, with hackers seizing control of accounts of the founders of Manifold Trading and Rug Radio among others over the past couple of days. December 22 saw the former's official X (previously Twitter) account and that of its founding partner, Jae Chung, succumbing to a SIM-swap attack which led to a series of hazardous links being posted. Despite features like password and email address protection, the attack succeeded, as confirmed to Cointelegraph by Chung. He further revealed that the attack only impacted Manifold's Twitter account and all critical fund-related aspects were intact, reiterating that recovery measures for the compromised accounts were underway.
On December 21, Farokh, the anonymous founder of Rug Radio, also became a victim of a similar attack, though he assured his followers that his phone number wasn't associated with his Twitter account. It's notable that a merger announcement with crypto-focused publication Decrypt was made by Rug Radio earlier this month.
A SIM-swap hack denotes a kind of scam wherein attackers gain control over the victim's phone number, potentially getting access to banking and credit card details along with crypto accounts anchored to SMS verification. The most effective prevention against SIM-swap attacks is to dissociate two-factor authentication (2FA) from a mobile number.
In a post on X dating back to August 23, Blockchain expert ZachXBT urged crypto app users to employ an authenticator app like Google Authenticator which eliminates the risk of telecom data theft. He further emphasized that hackers had succeeded in siphoning off more than $13.3 million from 54 high-value individuals over the four months preceding the post. This reveals an alarming trend of cyber attackers targeting crypto-oriented ventures and users.
Back in October, several users of social finance platform Friendtech fell prey to a SIM swap scam, as revealed on Twitter. A pseudonymous user indicated their friend.tech account being breached through a SIM swap, which was followed by a draining of more than 20 Ether (ETH) from their account -- worth about $44,000 at the time.
Published At
12/22/2023 8:47:34 AM
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