WHAT NOBODY'S TALKING ABOUT
I always say that when it comes to technological hacks, the human is usually the weakest link. Tech security is actually quite good now, compared to back in the day, yet we still see the same number of successful hacks and attacks. This Ledger hack demonstrates that perfectly.
Apparently, (this is what I heard), the hack was caused by a phishing attack on one of the employees of Ledger, which allowed the attack to gain control of the employees account and, consequently, have access to Ledger's github code. From then onwards, anything was possible.
It's important to realise that; "blockchain" wasn't hacked, "crypto" wasn't hacked, "Defi" wasn't hacked, heck one can argue that not even "Ledger" was hacked. What happened was that malicious code was introduced by an account that had permission to do so, and nobody noticed. An analog would be to hand your house keys to burglar who then enters your property and installs a camera above your keyboard.
Why this is particularly annoying for me, apart from the potential loss of funds, is that pretty much any company can be socially engineered this way. Now with the unprecedented levels of data collection, including the ones mandated by government, our personal information increasingly reside on these very hackable servers. Periodically we do hear of these data "leaks" that pretty much expose everything to these shady characters who then auction it to the highest bidder in the digital black market.
I am very protective of my personal data, believe it or not. I know I create content and show my face publicly, but over the many years I have learnt how to keep safe and private online. All that can be undone by one unwitting employee at HMRC or Barclays Bank who inserts an infected usb key into a work computer.
It's even more dangerous now with crypto. There many people with a lot of crypto wealth which was relatively safe in crypto wallets; especially self custody ones. Now even if hackers can't get to their assets, because they are savvy of the tricks, what's to stop criminals from turning up at the person's home with pew-pews? I mean, they know where you live! If it's worth it, they will make the trip to your home.
I strongly believe that we're going to see a rise in that kind of crime when criminals move from targeting people via email and social media to showing up at their doorsteps.
Peace & Love,
Adé
