The negative elements of blockchain technology were seen this week as a Twitter user claimed that a malicious Google Chrome extension cost him $16,000 worth of ZEC.
According to the user, with a pseudonymous name ”Hackedzec” on Twitter, the extension Ledger Secure which claims to be a cryptocurrency wallet allegedly copied their details.
In @hackedzec's case, 600ZEC were taken from his Ledger Nano by the extension author.
That's around 2.3BTC /USD$16k – bigtime pain.@jeremyrwelch from @CasaHODL presented on precisely this risk at Baltic HoneyBadger 2019 in Riga – malign browser extensions.
What's to learn?👇
— WizardofAus 🇦🇺⚡🌮 [Jan3🔑] (@BTCSchellingPt) January 2, 2020
The app sends user’s seed phrase back to its creators, allowing them to have access the user’s cryptocurrency assets illegally.
French blockchain company Ledger came out to disclaim the extension, the firm warned in a corresponding tweet that Ledger Secure was in no way affiliated to them and urged users to report the extension to Google for removal.
⚠️PHISHING ALERT⚠️
A Chrome extension malware has been detected called "Ledger Secure". This is NOT a legitimate Ledger application
DO NOT use it and contact us if you've installed it:https://t.co/bRaDjYHZbY
You can help by reporting the extension:https://t.co/oltHbtA8RR
— Ledger Support (@Ledger_Support) January 2, 2020
The detail of how the extension got users’ seed details is a bit sketchy with the victim claiming that they only entered the seed phrase just once into their computer two years ago. They also confirmed that they photocopied the seed phrase using a Wifi connected printer once as well.
It could most likely be that the Ledger Secure extension is a phishing app that could get details of user’s activities when browsing.
The Victim revealed that they became suspicious about the extension after a file was found on their computer that was linked to the Twitter account of the fake Leger Secure extension. The Twitter account was a parody of the legitimate Ledger account.
Malicious Crypto Apps Have on the Rise In Recent Years
There have been several cases of malicious apps used by hackers to steal cryptocurrencies. Mining apps have also been surfacing with thousands of computers been affected by such malware that illegally mine cryptocurrencies on unsuspecting users PCs.
Google has been clamping hard on such apps and extensions on its play store and browser stores but appears to be hit or miss for the tech firm.
Just this week NewsLogical reported that MetaMask was removed and reinstated to Google Play Store after it was mistaken for a crypto mining app.
