Updated September 13, 2023: X Account Hacked in SIM Card Swap Attack
Over the weekend, Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, also known as V, had his X account (formerly Twitter) hacked, resulting in a total loss of over NT$20 million for the victims.
On September 12, V appeared on the decentralized social platform, Warpcast, and explicitly stated that the reason for the account hack was a “SIM card swap attack.”
A SIM card swap attack is a hacking technique that involves obtaining the victim’s phone number through various channels and then impersonating the victim to request the transfer of that phone number to the hacker’s SIM card. Once completed, the hacker can receive all of the victim’s messages and authentication codes, bypassing two-factor authentication (2FA) and gaining control over various accounts.
V further explained that this experience made him realize that even with two-factor authentication in place, hackers can still bypass security measures. Buterin admitted that although he had previously received the advice to “avoid using phone numbers for identity verification,” he did not take it seriously and revealed that he may have used his phone number for verification when registering for Twitter Blue.
Finally, V expressed his satisfaction with joining Farcaster, a platform that offers a recovery mechanism allowing users to control their accounts using Ethereum addresses, providing higher security.
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Original Article from September 4th:
V’s X Account Hacked! Over NT$20 Million in Assets Stolen
Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, also known as V, had his X account (formerly Twitter) hacked this morning (9/9)!
In a post on Buterin’s X account, a phishing website URL celebrating “Proto-Danksharding” free NFTs was shared. By connecting your wallet and authorizing the minting, the assets in that wallet could be transferred. According to ZachXBT, a well-known blockchain investigator, the incident resulted in a total loss of over $690,000 (approximately NT$21 million) in digital assets.
(V’s X account after being hacked)
The tweet from V’s hacked account promoting the phishing website has since been deleted.
Proto-Danksharding is a crucial part of the Ethereum “Cancun upgrade,” also known as EIP-4844, which reduces the data volume of Layer 2 protocols on the Ethereum mainnet, lowers Layer 2 gas fees, and improves transaction speed.
After the hack, Dmitry Buterin, V’s father, immediately confirmed in a post that his son’s account had been compromised and urged everyone not to click on the link. He also mentioned that V was trying to recover his X account.
First claimed CryptoPunk stolen!
V’s X account has nearly 5 million followers, and due to the phishing message posted by the hacker, many developers and crypto veterans fell victim. The stolen NFTs include blue-chip projects such as CryptoPunks, Meetbits, Milday, and generative art Merdian, among others.
Of particular interest is CryptoPunk #3983, previously owned by well-known Ethereum developer Bokky Poobah. This NFT was sold for 155 ETH (approximately NT$8 million) after being stolen.
Currently, the floor price for CryptoPunks is 47 ETH (approximately NT$2.5 million). The reason why CryptoPunk #3983 sold for such a high price is because it was the first CryptoPunk to be claimed after Larva Lab’s founders, John and Matt, and it holds an irreplaceable historical value.
Upon learning that his CryptoPunk was stolen, Bokky Poobah jokingly remarked that at least he still owns CryptoPunk-V1 #3983.
What does the community think?
On X, a user named “Satoshi 767” believes that V did not take sufficient security measures for his X account and holds him responsible for the security oversight. However, well-known blockchain investigator ZachXBT quickly refuted this claim, stating that V’s high profile makes him an easy target for hackers worldwide.
Renowned KOL Zeneca also reminded everyone in a post that no account is 100% secure, even with two-factor authentication. If an insider at X gets hacked, any account could be compromised. He advised everyone to store important assets in hardware wallets and only interact with contracts and mint NFTs from hot wallets like Metamask.
Regarding BokkyPooBah’s stolen CryptoPunk, a user named 0xQuit expressed relief that the CryptoPunk contract did not have setApprovalForAll (approving the entire CryptoPunk NFT collection), as Bokky Poobah might have had five CryptoPunks stolen.
Proofread by: Gao Jingyuan