Vitalik Buterin Admits Hackers Launch SIM-Swap Attack on His X Account
In a recent turn of events, the inventor of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, revealed that his X account (formerly Twitter) was hacked. News concerning the hacked account created concerns among the Ethereum community after prices of significant crypto assets experienced a downturn.
In an interview with Farcaster, a decentralized social media platform, Buterin confessed that the hackers compromised his account using an unauthorized SIM swap. The crypto investor confirmed that efforts to restore his T-Mobile account have proven fruitful.
Impact of Unauthorized SIM Swap Attack
Unlike other hacking activities, Buterin admitted that the criminals in the crypto sector are becoming smarter every day. The September 9 hacking incident involved a SIM swap attack to drain assets worth over $691000.
Ideally, a SIM swap attack involves identity theft and gaining unauthorized access to online accounts. Such attacks expose the individual to the risk of losses and misuse of confidential information.
In his address, Buterin lamented that a bad actor compromised his T-Mobile to gain access to his personal information, including phone numbers. The unauthorized SIM swap hack involved transferring mobile numbers to another SIM card to steal assets or sensitive information.
Reportedly, the hackers managed to promote non-fungible tokens (NFTs) using the Buterin account. The hackers posted a suspicious link that deceived the public to connect with their digital wallets to earn rewards directly.
At that time, the hackers exploited multiple wallets in Ether (ETH), Wrapped ETH (wETH), Binance Coin (BNB), and USD Coin (USDC). The affected customers portrayed their disappointment on Twitter. They demanded that the Ethereum co-founder make arrangements to compensate them for their losses.
Vitalik Buterin Advices
From the hacking incident, the 29-year-old computer programmer admitted to learning a lesson from the SIM swap attack. He explained the importance of a phone number when resetting the Twitter password.
Even if the password reset feature requires a two-factor authentication (2AF), Buterin regretted that bad players could still eliminate a phone number from Twitter. He revisited a previous piece of advice where the Twitter community was urged to refrain from using their phone number in the password recovery or authentication process.
Buterin recommends that the Elon Musk social media platform X to improve the 2FA feature and login identity to prevent hacking. He admitted that his Twitter account had been locked multiple times in the past after the hacker attempted to gain unauthorized access using different passwords.
Buterin described the use of phone numbers in password reset as insecure. In support of Buterin’s remarks, Tim Beiko, a prominent Ethereum developer, urged the public to remove their mobile number from their Twitter account. Based on his expertise, Beiko stressed the need for developing a 2FA-enabled account.
The developer requested the X community turn on the 2AF feature on their social media accounts for security purposes.
Occasionally, the hackers have implemented a SIM swap technique to gain entire control of an individual phone number. Unauthorized access to a victim’s phone number enables the hackers to use the 2FA default to access personal information, including social media and bank accounts.
The Buterin hack incident mirrors a SIM swap attack that resulted in legal action against leading telecommunication company T-Mobile in 2020. In the previous SIM swap attack, crypto investors lost assets worth $8.7 million. Earlier, the Deutsche telecommunication company faced similar potential action after a Bitcoin maximalist lost assets worth $450000 in a SIM swap attack.
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