Crypto veterans focused in mysterious MetaMask heists – 5k ETH stolen

Greater than 5,000 Ethereum (ETH) and an undetermined amount of tokens and NFTs have been stolen throughout a number of chains in an ongoing hack since late final yr, mentioned MetaMask dev @tayvano_.

“I don’t understand how large it’s however since Dec 2022 it’s drained 5000+ ETH and ??? in tokens / NFTs / cash throughout 11+ chains.“

The dev added that he has been investigating for the final two days however can’t decide how the attacker is finishing up the thefts. Furthermore, the victims are all “OGs who’re fairly safe.”

OGs targetted in refined MetaMask heist

@tayvano_ identified that it is a refined assault intentionally focusing on OGs, reiterating that nobody can work out the place the exploit lies.

“That is NOT a low-brow phishing web site or a random scammer. It has NOT rekt a single noob. It ONLY rekts OGs.”

Forensic system examination has led nowhere — additional stumping investigations into the tactic used to entry the victims’ MetaMask pockets.

The commonalities between circumstances had been the keys had been created between 2014 and 2022, and victims are “crypto native,” comparable to possessing a number of addresses and dealing inside the crypto trade.

The hacker will commit “major” thefts, with “secondary” thefts following hours later to gather property and dirt missed in the course of the preliminary heist — typically weeks or months later.

Within the case of enormous thefts, the attacker will swap property into ETH contained in the pockets, then ship the tokens to a centralized swapper, together with SimpleSwap and ChangeNOW — at all times swapping into Bitcoin (BTC).

Sitting on the swapped BTC for per week, the funds are despatched to a mixer for tackle obfuscation.

Tips about staying protected

@tayvano_ speculates that the attacker has acquired a knowledge cache from the victims’ system. Utilizing this, they will summary the MetaMask keys — however he stresses that that is “only a guess.”

“My finest guess rn is that somebody has received themselves a fatty cache of knowledge from 1+ yr in the past & is methodically draining the keys as they parse them from the treasure trove.“

The dev cautions MetaMask customers to keep away from storing all their digital property on a single pockets key. As an alternative, individuals ought to cut up their crypto throughout a number of keys or maintain property on a {hardware} pockets.

“PLEASE DON’T KEEP ALL YOUR ASSETS IN A SINGLE KEY OR SECRET PHRASE FOR YEARS. THE END.“

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