• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data

 | 

A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users

 | 

China-linked group Houken hit French organizations using zero-days

 | 

Cybercriminals Target Brazil: 248,725 Exposed in CIEE One Data Breach

 | 

Europol shuts down Archetyp Market, longest-running dark web drug marketplace

 | 

Kelly Benefits data breach has impacted 550,000 people, and the situation continues to worsen as the investigation progresses

 | 

Cisco removed the backdoor account from its Unified Communications Manager

 | 

U.S. Sanctions Russia's Aeza Group for aiding crooks with bulletproof hosting

 | 

Qantas confirms customer data breach amid Scattered Spider attacks

 | 

CVE-2025-6554 is the fourth Chrome zero-day patched by Google in 2025

 | 

U.S. CISA adds TeleMessage TM SGNL flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

A sophisticated cyberattack hit the International Criminal Court

 | 

Esse Health data breach impacted 263,000 individuals

 | 

Europol dismantles €460M crypto scam targeting 5,000 victims worldwide

 | 

CISA and U.S. Agencies warn of ongoing Iranian cyber threats to critical infrastructure

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Citrix NetScaler flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Canada bans Hikvision over national security concerns

 | 

Denmark moves to protect personal identity from deepfakes with new copyright law

 | 

Ahold Delhaize data breach affected over 2.2 Million individuals

 | 

Facebook wants access to your camera roll for AI photo edits

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber Crime
  • Hacking
  • Russian cybercrime forums launch contests for cryptocurrency hacks

Russian cybercrime forums launch contests for cryptocurrency hacks

Pierluigi Paganini June 07, 2021

Cybercriminals in Russian underground forums have been invited to take part in competitions for hacking cryptocurrency and NFT.

Several Russian underground forums have launched competitions for hacking cryptocurrency schema and Non-fungible token (NFT).

“Over the past month, operators of one of the top Russian-language cybercrime forums have been running a “contest,” calling for the community to submit papers that examine how to target cryptocurrency-related technology.” reads a post published by Intel 471.

Experts discovered an announcement made on April 20, 2021 by the administrators of a hacking forum that inviting participants into proposing new techniques to steal private keys and wallets, devise unusual cryptocurrency mining software, compromise smart contracts and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The forum administrators were offering $100,000 awards to the ‘best’ proposal, and shortly thereafter, another reputable forum member added $15,000 to the prize pool. The submissions were accepted over a 30-days period.

Some of the papers submitted by the members of the forum exploited the manipulation of APIs from popular cryptocurrency-related services or decentralized-file technology to obtain private keys to cryptocurrency wallets. Another paper submitted by another forum member provided details on how to create a phishing website that allowed threat actors to harvest keys to cryptocurrency wallets and their seed phrases.

This type of competition is not uncommon in the cybercrime ecosystem, two popular forums have called for papers on a wide variety of topics, including mobile OS botnets, ATM and POS hacking. Prizes offered by the platforms were up to $10,000 for the “best” research, while administrators awarded any participants with $50. 

According to the experts at Intel471, organizations should proactively monitor the cybercrime underground looking for contests like this that demonstrate the increasing interest of crooks in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

“The contest is also an example of how cybercriminals can be more nimble than defenders. Forums not only serve as a marketplace, but also usher in and foster new innovations and cutting edge approaches that do not need to get bureaucratic approval before being used to carry out crimes.” concludes the post.

“Attack surfaces will grow as the technology stack around cryptocurrency and decentralized finance continues to grow.”

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook

[adrotate banner=”9″][adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, cryptocurrency hack)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

cryptocurrency cybercrime forums Cybersecurity Hacking hacking news information security news Pierluigi Paganini Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 04, 2025
Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 04, 2025
A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data

    Laws and regulations / July 04, 2025

    A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users

    Malware / July 04, 2025

    China-linked group Houken hit French organizations using zero-days

    APT / July 03, 2025

    Cybercriminals Target Brazil: 248,725 Exposed in CIEE One Data Breach

    Data Breach / July 03, 2025

    Europol shuts down Archetyp Market, longest-running dark web drug marketplace

    Cyber Crime / July 03, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT