December 23, 2024
Cybersecurity team claims up to .1B in crypto stored in old wallets are at risk

While the crypto community is still reeling from the effects of the recent $100 million Poloniex hack, a team of blockchain security experts has discovered another cybersecurity threat that could affect billions of dollars worth of crypto assets.

On November 14, cybersecurity company Unciphered freed Information about a vulnerability they call “Randstorm,” which they claim affected millions of crypto wallets generated between 2011 and 2015.

According to the company, while working to recover Bitcoin (BTC) wallets for customers, they discovered potential issues with wallets generated by BitcoinJS and derivative projects. According to the cybersecurity firm, the issue could affect millions of wallets and approximately $2.1 billion in crypto assets.

The company also believes that multiple blockchains and projects may be affected. In addition to BTC, the company highlighted that Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC) and Zcash (ZEC) wallets may also contain vulnerabilities.

related: Hackers claim to have stolen user data from defunct crypto ATM company Coin Cloud

Additionally, the company said millions of people have been alerted about the issue. For those using crypto wallets created between 2011 and 2015, the company recommends transferring their assets to wallets created more recently. They write:

“If you are an individual who generated a self-hosted wallet using a web browser before 2016, you should consider transferring funds to a recently created wallet generated by trusted software.”

While the company said not all affected wallets were affected equally, it also confirmed that the vulnerability was exploitable. However, the company did not provide any details about the exploit to avoid providing further information to bad actors in the space.

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