Media: US Treasury Department cites SIM swapping as the cause of the $400 million FTX hack

The defendants seized the personal data of several dozen users and persuaded operators to transfer their numbers to controlled SIM cards

02.02.2024 - 09:20

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3 min

What’s new? The US Justice Department has indicted three individuals in the $400 million hack of crypto exchange FTX. The attack was carried out a few hours after the exchange filed for bankruptcy, on November 11, 2022. According to the authorities’ version, Robert Powell, Emily Hernandez, and Carter Rohn used a SIM card swapping method to hack. Earlier, the new FTX managers, appointed as part of the bankruptcy process, noted that the exchange has a very weak security system.

Bloomberg’s material

What else is known? According to an opinion filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., the defendants collected the personal information of about 50 users of the exchange. They used that information to convince cell phone providers to transfer the victims’ numbers to devices under their control. This is how the defendants were able to intercept the exchange users’ codes for two-factor authentication and gain access to their accounts.

SIM swapping does not require sophisticated hacking skills, the scheme requires convincing or bribing employees of telecommunications companies. Powell, Hernandez, and Rohn are charged with fraud and identity theft. The Treasury Department’s opinion does not mention FTX, but Bloomberg sources confirmed that the case is related to its hack.

In May last year, FTX customers’ data leaked online as a result of a hack on the website of their representative, the law firm Kroll. Customers were warned about possible phishing attacks via e-mail and urged not to connect their wallets to suspicious websites.

On October 5, unknown people stole $385 000 in ETH from users of the friend.tech platform by swapping SIM cards.

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In January, unknown people hacked into the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X and published news about the approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) ahead of schedule, which caused market fluctuations. Officials said the hack was carried out by a SIM card swap.

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