Ethereum Founder's Twitter Hacked
After the security breach of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's X (formerly Twitter) account, individuals reportedly incurred losses surpassing $691,000. These losses resulted from a malicious link that deceptively advertised a free NFT.
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, reportedly faced a security breach in his X (formerly Twitter) account. According to blockchain investigator ZachXBT, this incident resulted in victims collectively losing more than $691,000 after being lured by a malicious link.
On September 9, Dmitry Buterin, Vitalik's father, made an announcement on X, acknowledging the compromise of his son's account:
"Please disregard this post, as it appears Vitalik has been hacked. He is actively working on regaining access."
The post in question, which celebrated the introduction of "Proto-Danksharding to Ethereum," has since been removed. It was shared from Buterin's account and contained a deceitful link offering a free commemorative nonfungible token (NFT). This link enticed individuals to connect their wallets, ultimately resulting in the theft of all their assets.
As a consequence of this incident, Ethereum developer Bok Khoo, known as Bokky Poobah on X, reported losses in his CryptoPunk NFT collection.
As of the time of reporting, the current base price for a CryptoPunk NFT is 46.99 Ether (ETH), which translates to roughly $76,837.
ZachXBT, who has been diligently updating his 438,200 followers about the hacker's actions, recently disclosed that the most valuable stolen NFT to date is CryptoPunk #3983, valued at 153.62 ETH, or approximately $250,543.
A user using the pseudonym Satoshi 767 raised concerns that Vitalik Buterin may not have adequately secured his X account, suggesting that SIM-swap attacks are a frequent oversight among many cryptocurrency project founders.
In response, ZachXBT contested these allegations, emphasizing that Vitalik's high-profile status makes him a target for various types of hacking attempts:
"It's premature to conclude that it was a SIM swap. Vitalik's prominence makes him susceptible to potential insider collaboration or the use of other methods," ZachXBT remarked.
Reference:
Vitalik Buterin’s X account hacked, over $691K drained from victims’ wallets (2023) Cointelegraph. Available at: https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-vitalik-buterin-x-hackers-drain (Accessed: 12 September 2023).