As seen in July this year, cryptocurrency was the target of hackers as they successfully attacked South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchange system. This resulted in the nabbing of almost $1 million worth of bitcoins. And guess what? This time the ICO hackers are targeting this crypto system of money exchange again with more ingenuity.
This time the target is Enigma, a company started by some MIT graduates.
This incident marks as the fifth Ethereum hack within two months, following a theft of:
- $32 Million worth of Ethereum from Parity’s Ethereum Wallet accounts.
- $8.4 Million worth of Ethereum during Veritaseum’s Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
- $7 Million worth of Ether during the hack of Israeli startup CoinDash’s ICO.
- $1 Million worth of Ether and Bitcoins heist in cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb.
The hacking did not result in any money loss for the company itself but compromised the accounts of its users. The hackers used spam emails which were given an authentic look. These emails urged the users of the Enigma community to send money to their crypto wallet.
This helped the ICO hackers to nab 1492 worth of Ether coins which amounts to nearly $494,170.68. The company had informed its users that it would not ask for any collection of money before the ICO this year but the authentic look of the emails and requests tricked many users of this system.
Following this hacking, keeping in view the repercussions this might have on the company, the official website and email systems have been taken down. Warnings have been issued through the Telegram and Twitter official accounts to users stating:
“At this time, the Enigma team has retaken control of all compromised accounts, including the website. Some pages will remain deactivated for the time being while the team works. Please continue to be vigilant and check our communications across ALL channels. Do not send any money or personal information to anyone.”
After some research, users on Reddit found that the email of Enigma’s CEO Guy Zyskind had been used for this nabbing by ICO hackers. His email address was believed to be used earlier on for a different hacking attempt at a low level. Due to his negligence to change the password of his account, his account was now used to make such a large and successful hacking attempt.
Therefore, you should share this news with as many friends and acquaintances to save others from facing a similar experience.
