Beeple becomes the latest victim of a rising spate of crypto hacks that has seen users lose hundreds of millions of dollars in investments. Hackers gained unauthorized control of Beeple’s Discord community yesterday and led the victims into sending ETH for a fake airdrop. The victims lost a total of 38 ETH as of press time.
In what appears to be a well-planned attack, hackers gained access to one of the largest crypto communities on Discord, Beeple, and manipulated Bepple community members into parting with their ETH in a scam that has now left community members poorer by nearly $180,000 as of press time. Beeple has begun an investigation into the attack as it seeks to understand how the breach happened.
The attacker targeted a Beeple admin with the username “Multi” and gained access to the admin’s panel despite the admin having 2FA set. Having assumed Multi’s identity, the hacker used Beeple’s auto announcement bot to promote the fake NFT airdrop.
The attack was timed to perfection, aimed to coincide with the opening of Christie’s auction. Christie, one of the biggest auction houses in the world, was holding its second auction when the attacker struck. The attacker, having gained access to an admin’s panel, posted a fake airdrop. The hacker urged users to “quickly claim 6 Christie’s NFT”. Within a few hours, the victims had made transactions, being happy to await the airdrops. But it was not to be.
Reactions to The Attack
Although Multi regained access to the account within an hour, the damage was already done. Users had spent nearly 38 ETH to purchase a fake airdrop. The hacker then began to move the ETH from the address used to receive it. Beeple said that it has notified Binance about the attack and will do all within its power to investigate it.
But what is worrisome is the growing ease with which attackers have compromised Beeple accounts to scam people. Beeple’s victims have recorded huge losses over the last year as the attacks are sustained.
NFT art scams are popular, especially as famed artists such as Beeple are turning to popular auction houses such as Christie’s to sell their art. Most crypto community members will jump at the chance to own NFTs of their favorite artists for a token. A member of Discord, under the name NFT Simon, said that he was going to participate in the airdrop before it turned out to be a scam.
Rising Need for Security Protocols
This attack has magnified the need for stronger security protocols in the crypto industry to combat rising attacks and prevent the loss of funds.
NFT Simon, just like other Beeple followers, check Beeple’s media profiles regularly for the chance to win airdrops of NFTs that could be worth more in the future. This has set up a ready pool of potential victims for hackers. One Beeple commenter said that his attack was a full security breach that left the community without an active admin for hours.
If the crypto industry would reach its true potential, more must be done to eliminate or drastically reduce the activities of malicious hackers.
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