A Chilean resident lost 2 Ether (ETH) because the security of his cryptocurrency wallet was breached. The hacker used a malicious program to install itself on the user’s computer and steal his wallet information. This incident highlights the importance of computer security and how users can protect themselves from malware attacks.
Recently, a Chilean reported to the authorities of his country that in an inexplicable way for him, his cryptocurrency wallet was emptied. The user from Chile did not understand how the security of his cryptocurrency wallet was breached.
After he reported the event, the cybercrime police in his country made inquiries and found how his cryptocurrencies were stolen. It was not the most sophisticated attack vector in the industry, but it could be said that it is the one that generates the most victims.
This is How the Security of the Chilean Resident’s Cryptocurrency Wallet Was Breached
According to BioBioChile, the unidentified Chilean user had some 2 Ether (ETH) stolen from his cryptocurrency wallet, equivalent to about 3,700 USD and about 4 million Chilean pesos. When he realized what had happened, he reported it to the Investigative Police (PDI) and the Metropolitan Cybercrime Brigade began investigating.
The Brigade determined that the user unknowingly installed a malicious program on his computer and used his Ledger cold wallet on that computer. Once the computer got infected, the program collected all the information from his wallet, sent it to the hacker who created the program, and his ETHs were drained.
In many ways, a careless user could inadvertently install malware. Even in the case of Ledger, there was a leak of user emails, so now they receive false emails with infected updates. Therefore, any neglect of computer security of a computer may imply the theft of cryptocurrencies, as was the case of the user in Chile.
How Was It Detected that a Foreigner Had Stolen the Chilean’s Cryptocurrencies?
The same police unit managed to detect the profile of the hacker who violated the security of the Chilean user’s cryptocurrency wallet. To achieve this, the inspector of the Cybercrime Brigade, Víctor Celis explained the following to the outlet:
“Police were able to identify the perpetrator of a crime by tracking cryptocurrency transactions. They followed the transfers between different wallets until they found one that belonged to a 28-year-old Vietnamese citizen.
Due to the distance between the victim and the thief, it is doubtful that the user from Chile can recover his cryptocurrencies, although Interpol itself is investigating the case. Certainly, the trace will continue in Ethereum forever and can be observed from any block explorer.
Lessons to Learn from this Cryptocurrency Theft
Based on the Chilean’s experience, cryptocurrency users would do well to learn how to improve their computer security.
The first thing is to be quite suspicious of everything related to the Internet. Another point is to avoid pirated programs and files from dubious sources.
In addition, it is ideal to avoid computers in public spaces, since if anyone can access that computer, they can install any malware.
Finally, be very careful when trading cryptocurrencies. Most of the attacks are phishing, where the programs inadvertently change the delivery address of the cryptocurrencies.
It is always necessary to be aware of the security of computers to avoid the theft of information, money, or cryptocurrencies, as happened to the user in Chile.
By Audy Castaneda
