On Monday, it warned users of Hola, a free virtual private network (VPN) service, to transfer their funds immediately to a new account. “We received a report that suggest[s] Hola chrome extension was hacked for approximately five hours and the attack was logging your activity on MEW,” the company tweeted.
It follows a similar incident in February, when around $365,000 (£275,605) of crypto was stolen from users as a result of a domain name system (DNS) attack.
Raj Samani, Chief Scientist and Fellow at McAfee, says the spike in the value of Bitcoin at the end of 2017 promoted many cyber attackers to extend their activities into the hijacking of crypto wallets.
“This is a text book example of the risks involving cryptocurrency – as safe as users may think they are from becoming victims of crimes, it only takes a weak link in a system for their whole security to be compromised,” he warns.
Samani says everyone, from small and big businesses to individual users, must do their due diligence. “This means making sure that there is a good combination of people, process and technology to effectively protect assets, detect threats and, when targeted, rapidly correct systems to keep cyber thieves at bay,” he adds.
In particular, users should ask what protective measures are being used by VPNs, as they are not all created equal and using one does not equal total protection.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.