Crypto wallet BitKeep lost over $9M over a cyber attack

Decentralized multi-chain crypto wallet BitKeep lost over $9 Million worth of digital currencies after a cyber attack.

BitKeep was the victim of a supply chain attack that resulted in the theft of over $9 Million worth of digital currencies from its customers. The attack took place on December 26, threat actors were able to distribute tainted versions of the company’s Android app that were designed to steal users’ digital assets.

The attackers were able to hijacked BitKeep App 7.2.9 APK hosted on the company website, app installed via Google Play, iOS App Store and Google chrome are safe.

“In this large-scale malicious attack, the hacker exploited and hijacked BitKeep App 7.2.9 APK on our website. With maliciously implanted code, the altered APK led to the leak of user’s private keys and enabled the hacker to move funds.” reads an Open Letter from BitKeep CEO published on its website. “There is no security issue for the BitKeep official app installed via Google Play, iOS App Store and Google chrome. However, if you have downloaded BitKeep 7.2.9 APK on BitKeep website or updated it to this version via website or in the app, I’d like to urge you to download a new app via the official store, generate a new wallet address and move your funds, because there’s a chance that your private key is leaked due to this hijacked APK in question.”

These are the hijacked APK versions: 7.2.9 com.bitkeep.w4 7.2.9 com.bitkeep.wallet5 7.2.9 io.bitkeep.wallet 7.2.9 http://com.bitkeep.app 7.2.9 com.bitkeep.w5.

Researchers from blockchain security company PeckShield estimated that attackers stole over $9 million worth of crypto assets.

“We have traced and identified around $8 million stolen funds. BitKeep Tech team is pinpointing the root cause and tracking the stolen funds, some of which have already been frozen with the help of third parties.” reads one of the tweets published by BitKeep. “Funds stolen are on BNB Chain, Ethereum, TRON and Polygon. More than 200 addresses on the other 3 chains were used in the heist, and all funds were transferred to 2 main addresses in the end.”

Users who have downloaded the APK file for version 7.2.9 on the BitKeep website have to remove it and install the latest version (7.3.0). They have to transfer the funds to a newly generated wallet address.

The company is working with the SlowMist team and other security specialists in the industry to track the stolen funds, and announced it has locked and frozen part of the stolen tokens.

In October the company suffered another security breach impacting its Swap service that caused losses of approximately $1 million.

Threat actors continue to target the cryptocurrency industry, yesterday BTC.com announced it was the victim of a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of approximately $3 million worth of crypto assets. According to the company, the attack took place on December 3rd, 202 and stolen assets belong to both customers and the company.

$700,000 worth of crypto owned by the company’s clients and $2.3 million in digital assets owned by the company were stolen in the cyberattack.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, cybercrime)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.