Suspected 4th Coldcard Attack Wave Sweeps 389 Bitcoin: Galaxy's Thorn
A suspected 4th wave of Coldcard attacks has swept 389 Bitcoin, with Galaxy research head Alex Thorn warning users of coordinated thefts targeting their hardware wallets.
Intelligence analysis by Llama 3.3 70B
The latest wave of attacks comes just days after the first wave, with Thorn flagging 218 transactions impacting 462 potential victim addresses in the last few hours.
Imagine you have a special kind of wallet that stores your Bitcoin. Some people have found a way to steal from these wallets, and now many people are losing their money. The company that makes these wallets is trying to help people protect their money.
Analysis
Coldcard Vulnerability Exposed
The recent wave of Coldcard attacks has exposed a previously undetected firmware flaw in the devices, which has caused affected devices to generate wallet seeds with less entropy than intended. This flaw has made it easier for attackers to steal funds from vulnerable users.
Coordinated Thefts
The attacks are characterized by a high volume of transactions, with Thorn observing an average of 13.8 sweeps per block, around 45 times the rate observed in a pre-incident control window. Most transfers have seen a fresh destination created for each victim rather than converging on a central collection wallet.
Potential for Recovery
Affected users who control the relevant keys may be able to broadcast a conflicting transaction with a higher fee to move their funds to a secure wallet before the attacker's transaction is confirmed. However, this requires swift action, and users are advised to take immediate steps to secure their funds.
Key points
- A suspected 4th wave of Coldcard attacks has swept 389 Bitcoin
- The attacks are characterized by a high volume of transactions
- Affected users may be able to recover their funds by broadcasting a conflicting transaction
If users take immediate action to secure their funds, they may be able to prevent further losses. Additionally, the exposure of the firmware flaw may lead to improved security measures being implemented to prevent similar attacks in the future.
The attacks may continue, with more users losing their funds. The estimated losses of $90 million in Bitcoin stolen so far may increase, and the vulnerability of Coldcard users may remain a concern for some time.
