Major crypto data aggregator, Coingecko, recently fell victim to a hacking incident where its official accounts were briefly taken over. The hackers used this opportunity to promote a fake token launch and airdrop. This incident marks the second such hack within a 24-hour period, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s account also being compromised.
Coingecko made the announcement of the hack on January 10, urging users not to click or engage with any suspicious links. The platform also stated that it would be conducting investigations and taking steps to secure its accounts.
The compromised tweet, which has since been deleted, announced the launch of a token named GCKO. The post directed users to a link where they could claim airdrops of the token in celebration of the launch. Unfortunately, some users interacted with the scam link and reported losing funds as a result. This led to questions about whether Coingecko had implemented two-factor authentication (2FA), which could have potentially prevented the hack.
This incident follows closely on the heels of a recent hack involving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC had announced the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications, a move that saw the price of Bitcoin rise to over $47,600. However, SEC chairman Gary Gensler later revealed that the agency’s account had been compromised and the news was fake, causing Bitcoin’s price to fall to around $45,000.
While there were speculations that the hack was an inside job, a preliminary investigation revealed that it occurred because an “unidentified individual” took control of a phone number associated with the agency’s account via a third party. It was also revealed that the SEC had not set up a 2FA for its account, a lack of proper security measures that drew heavy criticism from the crypto community.
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Geography | North America |
| Countries | 🇺🇸 |
| Sentiment | negative |
| Relevance Score | 1 |
| People | Gary Gensler |
| Companies | U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, CryptoPotato, Coingecko, Binance Futures |
| Currencies | Bitcoin |
| Securities | None |
