Hackers compromised Telegram messenger and email accounts of multiple cryptocurrency executives last month by exploiting a vulnerability in a decades-old protocol. The fraudsters are believed to have been trying to intercept two-factor authentication codes of victims in an attack on Israel-based telecommunications provider Partner Communications Company, formerly known as Orange Israel. The attacks are currently being investigated by Israel’s National Cyber Security Authority and national intelligence agency Mossad. According to cybersecurity publication Bleeping Computer, the devices of at least 20 Partner Communications Company subscribers were compromised. Israel-based cybersecurity firm Pandora Security’s analysis of the event suggests the devices were likely …

This morning, millionaire broker and noted Bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff awoke to find his bank under renewed scrutiny due to an international criminal investigation. According to reporting from Australian newspaper The Age and The New York Times, the J5 -- a joint task force of tax authorities from major Western governments convened in the wake of the bombshell publication of the Panama Papers -- have placed “hundreds” of accounts at Schiff’s Puerto Rico-based Euro Pacific Bank under investigation for tax evasion and other financial crimes. The reports detail what appears to be a comically inept organization responsible for harboring the …

The trustee of the now-defunct Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox has obtained another approval to extend the deadline for submitting a rehabilitation plan. Following a motion by Mt. Gox rehabilitation trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi, the Tokyo District Court issued another order to extend the deadline until Dec. 15, 2020, according to an official announcement posted on the Mt. Gox website on Oct. 15. Similarly to previous statements on deadline extensions, the new announcement specifies that the rehabilitation trustee is still formulating the plan, but “there are matters that require closer examination,” so it “has become necessary to extend the submission deadline.” …

The concept of a blockchain "dark forest" has been popularized recently by Ethereum and the existence of front-running bots that will copy any profitable transaction pending for submission. The bots are able to assess if any given transaction that just entered the mempool can be replicated, and they will immediately publish their own copy with a much higher gas fee, which virtually guarantees that they will be the first to claim it. The term "dark forest" is inspired from a sci-fi novel and indicates a place where detection means instant death — or in this case loss of funds. In …

Bitcoins (BTC) stolen from major cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex back in 2016 are on the move again, as hackers shift another massive batch of funds to unknown wallets. According to data from crypto transaction tracking service Whale Alert, Bitfinex hackers moved more than $4.6 million in stolen BTC on Oct. 8. These funds were sent to unknown wallets in two separate transactions of 435 BTC and 8 BTC. But the hackers have moved far more than this amount earlier this week. According to Whale Alert, Bitfinex hackers completed seven more similar transactions on Oct. 7, totaling at 2,900 Bitcoin, or $26.4 …

The KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange is partly restoring deposits and withdrawals following a major hack. As KuCoin officially announced on Oct. 7, the platform has completed the wallet security upgrade for major cryptos like Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Tether (USDT). Following the upgrade, KuCoin has resumed the deposit and withdrawal service of BTC, ETH, and ERC-20-based USDT. According to the announcement, USDT running on other blockchains like EOS, Tron, and Omni is not yet available for withdrawals. KuCoin stated: “KuCoin is gradually restoring the deposit and withdrawal services of all tokens, and the full service of USDT will also resume …

As the fallout from the hack on its platform continues, KuCoin said it has identified suspects and have now officially involved law enforcement in the investigation. KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu tweeted on Oct. 3 that the exchange now has substantial proof that identifies who hacked the service on Sept. 26. A quick update since my last livestream on Sep 30. After a thorough investigation, we have found the suspects of the 9.26 #KuCoin Security Incident with substantial proof at hand. Law enforcement officials and police are officially involved to take action. — lyu_johnny (@lyu_johnny) October 3, 2020 Lyu added that …

After a major hack at KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange, cybercriminals continue to move stolen crypto to decentralized exchanges, or DEXes. According to data from crypto transaction tracking service Whale Alert, KuCoin hackers keep sending thousands of dollars worth of Synthetix Network Token (SNX) to Uniswap — the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol by total value locked. On Sept. 28, the hacker completed another batch of transactions moving stolen funds from KuCoin and to major DEX Uniswap. According to data from Whale Alert, the hackers sent at least $1.2 million worth of stolen SNX tokens to the DEX in a series of …

Back in April of 2020, Cointelegraph took a close look at the KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange. Investigating the apparent lock of the primary domain name, which was a result of a legal case under the jurisdiction of the High Court of Singapore, we concluded that: In the absence of clarity from any of the individuals mentioned in this article, or from the company itself, users of the KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange will likely want answers on whether they are sending their money to Singapore, the Seychelles, China — or anywhere else in the world. Now $150 million is missing from KuCoin in …

The United States has taken actions against international hackers responsible for the theft of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency. On September 16, the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced it has imposed sanctions on two Russian nationals who used a sophistication phishing campaign to steal at least $16.8 million from the customers of three virtual currency exchanges in 2017 and 2018 — including two based in the United States. The pair, Danil Potekhin and Dmitrii Karasavidi, created multiple websites impersonating legitimate crypto exchanges …

Per its Wednesday additions to its list of sanctioned individuals, the United States Treasury Department is targeting Monero (XMR) addresses. Russian nationals Dmitriy Karasavidi and Danil Potekhin have become the newest names on the specially designated nationals list. According to the Treasury’s announcement on the subject, the two engineered an elaborate phishing campaign targeting U.S. citizens in 2017 and 2018. Both parties had a number of cryptocurrency addresses including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), as well as Zcash (ZEC) and Litecoin (LTC). Surprisingly, Karasavidi’s information includes a Monero address: 5be5543ff73456ab9f2d207887e2af87322c651ea1a873c5b25b7ffae456c320. Given Monero's famous built-in privacy features, this is a huge …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note One of the most persistent myths about Bitcoin is its supposed anonymity. More properly termed pseudonymity, BTC wallets are permanently tied to their public keys. Most of you know that. But it took government investigators years of trying to corral Bitcoin transactions on dark web marketplaces like the Silk Road to figure that out. Now, however, blockchain analysis is a growing industry, catering to a range of clients including many of the most shadowy of government agencies. This was …