Hackers target few crypto users by exploiting SS7 protocols

In what is said to be a targeted attack at cryptocurrency users, hackers have exploited the Signaling System 7 (SS7) which is a set of protocols used to perform telephone calls and text messages, to obtain cryptocurrency via this attack. A report stated that in September this year, hackers attacked 20 users of an Israel based firm known as Partner Communications Company, which is involved in high-level crypto cryptocurrency projects.

As per the report, hackers in question gained access to Telegram messenger and email data of high-profile individuals in the cryptocurrency business. They took over two-factor authentication login codes, delivered in a text from the victim’s mobile, via the SS7 protocols. 

These protocols are nearly 50-year-old and have long been a target for hackers around the world. In fact, back in September 2017, researchers demonstrated how they could take advantage of flaws in the SS7 protocols to compromise a Coinbase bitcoin wallet. 

However, the report noted that this kind of attack was “well known” in the crypto space and that nobody from the crypto community had suffered from the attack.

With regard to the September attack, a local news source reported that Israel’s national intelligence agency (Mossad) and the country’s National Cyber Security Authority were investigating the attacks.