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A malicious Google Chrome extension reportedly cost one user around $16,000 worth of cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n
A bogus extension called \u201cLedger Secure,\u201d that passes itself off as a cryptocurrency wallet, is believed to be responsible for the loss, Decrypt reports. The app allegedly sends a user\u2018s seed phrase back to its creators. With the seed phrase, bad actors can access another individual\u2019s cryptocurrency illegitimately.<\/p>\n
\nIn @hackedzec<\/a>‘s case, 600ZEC were taken from his Ledger Nano by the extension author.<\/p>\n
That’s around 2.3BTC \/USD$16k \u2013 bigtime pain.@jeremyrwelch<\/a> from @CasaHODL<\/a> presented on precisely this risk at Baltic HoneyBadger 2019 in Riga \u2013 malign browser extensions.<\/p>\n
What’s to learn??<\/p>\n
\u2014 WizardofAus ??\u26a1? [Jan3?] (@BTCSchellingPt) January 2, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
It should be noted that French company Ledger is not affiliated to the \u201cLedger Secure\u201d extension.<\/p>\n
In a tweet following the phishing scam, Ledger warned that \u201cLedger Secure\u201d is not a legitimate application. It urged users to report the extension to encourage Google to remove it.<\/p>\n
\n\u26a0\ufe0fPHISHING ALERT\u26a0\ufe0f<\/p>\n
A Chrome extension malware has been detected called “Ledger Secure”. This is NOT a legitimate Ledger application<\/p>\n
DO NOT use it and contact us if you’ve installed it:https:\/\/t.co\/bRaDjYHZbY<\/p>\n
You can help by reporting the extension:https:\/\/t.co\/oltHbtA8RR<\/p>\n
\u2014 Ledger Support (@Ledger_Support) January 2, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The affected Twitter user, now going by the handle \u201chackedzec\u201d, claims the extension led to them losing 600 ZEC \u2014 about $16,000 at the time of writing.<\/p>\n
The victim says they only entered their seed phrase into their computer once, about two years ago. They also say they photocopied their seed phrase using a WiFi-connected printer once as well. It\u2019s difficult to say if these two instances were to blame. How the malicious extension got hold of their seed phrase is unclear.<\/p>\n
The victim became aware of the shady extension after they reportedly found a file on their computer that linked to a Twitter account for the fake<\/a> \u201cLedger Secure\u201d extension. The Twitter account appears to pass itself off as a legitimate Ledger account.<\/p>\n
It seems Google is still a bit hit-and-miss when it comes to removing illicit cryptocurrency apps from its Play Store and browser extensions.<\/p>\n
This news comes in the same week that MetaMask was removed from \u2014 and swiftly reinstated to \u2014 Google\u2019s Play Store after thinking it was a cryptocurrency mining app.<\/p>\n
\n Published January 3, 2020 \u2014 12:39 UTC\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n