Latest Security Breach Affects Some Crypto Wallets
In the latest cryptocurrency news, the Finland-based company called LocalBitcoins has claimed that it suffered from a recent hack which affected a handful of users. The peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading portal revealed the news by posting an update on Reddit recently.
The Anonymous Hacker
Considered among the most popular sites for p2p OTC digital currency trading, the company said that it noticed a security flaw. Unfortunately, the latter was taken advantage by an anonymous hacker.
The security team at LocalBitcoins said that the hack took place at around 10:00:000 UTC. Also, it suggested that the unknown hacker was successful in discovering vulnerability directly in the platform’s security systems. From there, he proceeded to manipulate the funds that are believed to have been kept by six users on their respective local wallets. The funds were then sent to an unknown location.
Following the hack, the company confirmed the unauthorized access of transactions from various affected accounts. This forced the platform to temporarily disable all outgoing transactions as they are continuing the investigation of the case.
The exchange also notes that it was able to easily identify the issue. Basically, it was a vulnerability created simply by the utilization of third-party software. It added that despite the fact the exploiter was able to access an undisclosed number of users, only a handful of them was really affected.
LocalBitcoins Users Reportedly Safe
According to the platform, the root cause of the issue was quickly fixed. In the first stage, it decided to neutralize the bug through the means of blocking user access directly to wallets. At the same time, trading was halted temporarily.
A couple of hours following the hack, LocalBitcoins was once again operational. The company eventually announced that everything was back in a normal way. The team also commented that despite what had happened, there were really no significant complications whatsoever.
The company, however, did not disclose about compensating affected users. The same thing can be said if it was able to track the lost Bitcoins. In addition, the platform decided to disable the forum, allowing users to interact only through the cyphered p2p chat as soon as a trade is open.
LocalBitcoins did not comment on the method used by the hacker to access its systems. It also did not provide any information on the number of BTC lost. To put it simply, it remains unknown whether the digital currency was transferred from the platform all the way to a single external wallet or a different destination.