Hacker Dupes Vitalik Buterin Followers with Malicious NFT Link on X

Vitalik Buterin, the mind behind Ethereum, suffered a Twitter breach. A hacker tricked users to part with $691,000 using a deceptive link on his feed. The fraudulent post, now removed, advertised a special non-fungible token (NFT) release from software provider Consensys. Rather than minting the NFT, users inadvertently granted the hacker access to their funds.

Initially, the hacker siphoned over $147,000. But as more reports surfaced, that figure climbed to $691,000. Despite the tumult, Buterin has remained silent, his latest activity being a retweet dated Sept. 6. The exact number of affected users remains uncertain. This episode joins a series of social media breaches, which have yielded hackers massive token amounts.

Binance’s Chief, Changpeng Zhao, weighed in on the issue. Highlighting flaws in X platform’s account security, Zhao stated it wasn’t on par with conventional financial accounts. “It requires enhancements: 2FA, distinct login IDs, and more,” said Zhao. He underscored the importance of two-factor authentication (2FA) using his experience as an example. Before the notable “Elon era”, his account faced multiple brute-force attempts, a hacker strategy to flood accounts with log-in tries.

It’s worth noting, Twitter supports 2FA, but exclusively for its premium Blue users. With this system, a user must provide two identification forms to access their account, adding an extra layer of security.