The crypto sector, which is thriving in different parts of the world, has been hit by several hacking and scam attacks this year. Even a few days before the industrially tumultuous year of 2022 ends, news and warnings about crypto crimes have made headlines. This week, the private API keys of about 1,00,000 crypto users were leaked onto public domains. The victims were all users of 3Commas, an Estonia-based crypto trading service. The incident added stress to the already troubled crypto sector, which has plummeted in valuation to an annual low of $795 billion (approximately Rs. 65,87,830 crore).
3Commas allows users to set up an automated feature that allows bots to initiate transactions on third-party exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, and KuCoin on behalf of the users.
An anonymous hacker, as confirmed by 3Commas, had been at work since October Reportedly resulted in loss of user funds up to $12 million (approximately Rs. 100 crore) through unauthorized transactions. These transactions were processed through 3Commas on exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase.
Previously, the company investigated whether these unauthenticated transactions were caused by phishing attacks.
1. Statement from 3Commas:
We have seen the hacker’s message and can confirm that the data in the files is true. As an immediate action, we have asked Binance, Kucoin and other supported exchanges to revoke all keys associated with 3Commas.
— Yuri Sorokin (@YS_3Commas) December 28, 2022
Several members of the crypto community, including Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, shared awareness and security suggestions for others.
I’m pretty sure there are widespread API key leaks from 3Commas. If you’ve ever put an API key into 3Commas (from any exchange), disable it immediately.
Stay #SAFU.
— CZ: large_orange_diamond: Binance (@cz_binance) December 28, 2022
My strong recommendation to everyone @3commas_io leak victims is to hire the lawyer as soon as possible
Link to leak belowhttps://t.co/QRstmpwumF
The best documented lawsuits would win and you could get compensation
— Dyma Budorin: flag-ua: (@buda_kyiv) December 28, 2022
The incident comes against the backdrop of crypto crimes escalating around the world.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned crypto investors there about a new technique of ongoing scams, the “pig slaughter”. In these cases, scammers get potential victims to move their investments to cryptocurrency. Once their digital wallets get ‘fat’, these scammers hack and steal the money.
“Be very careful when you go on social media and dating apps and someone starts developing a relationship with you and wants you to invest. Don’t get slaughtered,” Bitcoin.com quoted Frank Fisher, a public affairs specialist at the Albuquerque Division of the FBI, as noted.
In November, the authorities in the US Reportedly claimed to have identified and confiscated seven domain names that were exploited in pig slaughterhouse scams.
In a recent report, Chainalysis claimed that the month of October was the worst in terms of crypto-related crimes. The crypto sector lost more than $718 million (approximately Rs. 5,890 crore) due to such crimes.
Back-to-back hacking attacks on the digital asset sector contributed greatly to how the market appeared to reach its current low valuation of $795 billion (approximately Rs. 65,87,830 crore).
Glassnode has claimed in its latest report that most Bitcoin holders have moved their holdings to self-custodial crypto wallets. Glassnode has estimated that about 550,000 Bitcoin worth $9.2 billion (approximately Rs. 76,760 crore) have left crypto exchanges.
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