Blockchain
Ransomware payment rate drops to record low as attacks surge
The number of ransomware victims paying threat actors has dropped to 28% last year, an all-time low, despite a significant increase in the number of claimed attacks. A downward payment trend has been observed for the past four consecutive years by the blockchain intelligence platform Chainalysis. At the moment, the total of on-chain ransomware payments in 2025 stands […]
Hackers drain $3.9M from Unleash Protocol after multisig hijack
The decentralized intellectual property platform Unleash Protocol has lost around $3.9 million worth of cryptocurrency after someone executed an unauthorized contract upgrade that allowed asset withdrawals. According to the team behind the blockchain project, the attacker obtained enough signing power to act as an administrator of Unleash’s multisig governance system. “Our initial investigation indicates that an […]
North Korean hackers exploit React2Shell flaw in EtherRAT malware attacks
A new malware implant called EtherRAT, deployed in a recent React2Shell attack, runs five separate Linux persistence mechanisms and leverages Ethereum smart contracts for communication with the attacker. Researchers at cloud security company Sysdig believe that the malware aligns with North Korea’s tools used in Contagious Interview campaigns. They recovered EtherRAT from a compromised Next.js application […]
Fake Solidity VSCode extension on Open VSX backdoors developers
A remote access trojan dubbed SleepyDuck, and disguised as the well-known Solidity extension in the Open VSX open-source registry, uses an Ethereum smart contract to establish a communication channel with the attacker. Open VSX is a community-driven registry for extensions compatible with VS Code, which are popular with AI-powered integrated development environments (IDEs) like Cursor and Windsurf. […]
Over $300 million in cybercrime crypto seized in anti-fraud effort
More than $300 million worth of cryptocurrency linked to cybercrime and fraud schemes has been frozen due to two separate initiatives involving law enforcement and private companies. One initiative is the T3+ Global Collaborator Program launched by the T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), a joint effort deployed almost a year ago by intelligence firm TRM […]
Blockchain gaming platform WEMIX hacked to steal $6.1 million
Blockchain gaming platform WEMIX suffered a cyberattack last month, allowing threat actors to steal 8,654,860 WEMIX tokens, valued at approximately $6,100,000 at the time. During a press conference held yesterday, WEMIX’s CEO Kim Seok-Hwan confirmed the incident occurred on February 28, 2025, explaining that the delay in issuing a public announcement wasn’t an attempt to […]
Ethereum private key stealer on PyPI downloaded over 1,000 times
A malicious Python Package Index (PyPI) package named “set-utils” has been stealing Ethereum private keys through intercepted wallet creation functions and exfiltrating them via the Polygon blockchain. The package disguises itself as a utility for Python, mimicking the popular “python-utils,” which has over 712 million downloads, and “utils,” which counts over 23.5 million installs. Researchers […]
Canadian charged with stealing $65 million using DeFI crypto exploits
The U.S. Justice Department has charged a Canadian man with stealing roughly $65 million after exploiting two decentralized finance (DeFI) protocols. DeFI platforms are blockchain-based systems that facilitate peer-to-peer financial services, eliminating the need for conventional centralized financial intermediaries like banks or brokerages. These platforms deliver various financial services related to digital assets, enabling their […]
New Web3 attack exploits transaction simulations to steal crypto
Threat actors are employing a new tactic called “transaction simulation spoofing” to steal crypto, with one attack successfully stealing 143.45 Ethereum, worth approximately $460,000. The attack, spotted by ScamSniffer, highlights a flaw in transaction simulation mechanisms used in modern Web3 wallets, meant to safeguard users from fraudulent and malicious transactions. How the attack works Transaction simulation […]
Malicious npm packages target Ethereum developers’ private keys
Twenty malicious packages impersonating the Hardhat development environment used by Ethereum developers are targeting private keys and other sensitive data. Collectively, the malicious packages have recorded more than one thousand downloads, researchers say. Narrow targeting campaign Hardhat is a widely used Ethereum development environment maintained by the Nomic Foundation. It is used for developing, testing, […]