A cryptocurrency trader reported on twitter that he lost 100,000 in ERC-20 tokens after his Ledger wallet was hacked. Security of Ledger wallets has always been dubious, as its vulnerability being exposed with instances of theft from users’ funds are not uncommon altogether.
The Ledger Hack
On August 15, a crypto trader by the name ‘Stacking’ informed on the social media platform that someone hacked into his Ledger and stole over $100,000 worth of ERC-20 tokens. He added that his ledger is in a safe, and he had reset it last week, making it impossible for anyone to crack the recovery phrases. Naturally, the entire act left him flabbergasted. This also left other users confused, as the coin was stolen while it was still in Ledger’s purse.
A per the latest update, the stolen coins are of ERC-20 variety, called Sentivate (SNTVT). Details of the transaction can be found here.
Are Ledgers Unsafe?
There have been speculations about the security associated with ledger accounts. As reported by Cointelegraph, a newly discovered vulnerability in the ledger wallet could be disastrous if not addressed at the earliest. The findings also reveal that such threats could give room for a Bitcoin Fork attack.
Supporting the argument, Mo Nokhbeh, a liquidity developer, claimed that Ledger’s wallet fails to properly isolate the apps responsible for authorising asset transactions, which could ensnare a user into authorising a transaction for a less valuable asset such as Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash or any other Bitcoin Fork Coin — when in reality, a Bitcoin transaction is being initiated. Going by Mo Nokhbeh’s account, he has informed Ledger about this serious loophole, but the issue has not been fixed despite acknowledgement.
Sentivate steps in to help
Shortly after informing everyone on the theft, the crypto trader tweeted that despite reaching out to many exchanges and contacts, nobody responded to his plight. However, it was Tom Marchi, founder and developer at technology firm Sentivate, whose instant assistance is helping him deal with the issue.
