Bitfinex, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has refuted the claims made by hacking group Fsociety.
Bitfinex, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has refuted the claims made by hacking group Fsociety, stating that the alleged hack of its database and subsequent leak of customer emails and passwords appears to be fake. Paolo Ardoino, the chief technology officer of Bitfinex, expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of the claims, pointing out that if the hackers had real information, they would have pursued a ransom through the platform's bug bounty, customer support ticket system, emails, or Twitter. No such requests were found.
Ardoino, who is also the CEO of Tether, emphasized that Bitfinex does not store plaintext passwords or 2FA secrets in clear text, further undermining the hackers' claims. Out of the 22,500 records of emails and passwords allegedly leaked, only 5,000 matched Bitfinex users. Ardoino suggested that the data was likely obtained from other crypto data breaches, as many users tend to reuse the same email and password combinations across multiple sites.
The Bitfinex CTO also shared a message from a security researcher who believes that the hackers might be using the claim of hacking Bitfinex as a means to advertise a data retrieval hacking tool. The researcher speculated that by creating a buzz around hacking well-known companies or a university, the hackers aim to showcase the effectiveness of their tool and encourage others to purchase it for exploiting companies.
This is not the first time Bitfinex has faced concerns about data breaches. In November 2023, a minor information security incident occurred when one of the customer support agents was hacked, leading to phishing attacks targeting Bitfinex users. However, Bitfinex stated that minimal harm resulted from the incident.
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