Bitcoin.org team restores access to the site

Unknown actors gained unauthorized access to the oldest information resource on Bitcoin, Bitcoin.org, and posted on its homepage a fraudulent announcement about a cryptocurrency giveaway. The domain registrar Namecheap restricted access to the site.

cc @namecheap @NamecheapCEO in case y’all want to take down the scam site of all scam sites, at least temporarily (looks like the domain was updated today/stolen, possible?)

— Matt Corallo (@TheBlueMatt) September 23, 2021

On September 23, messages appeared about a pop-up window displayed on the site’s homepage. Users were invited to send cryptocurrency to the specified address — the amount sent was promised to be doubled.

https://t.co/yc0aKbZcer is Hacked by Scam. pic.twitter.com/2qmRMS2lJh

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) September 23, 2021

“Bitcoin.org was never hacked. And then we switched to Cloudflare and two months later we were compromised. Can you explain where you are routing my traffic? Because during the attack no traffic reached my real server,” wrote Cobra.

Within a few hours, the fraudulent address received over 0.4 BTC worth about $17,800 at the time of writing, according to Blockchain.com. Practically all of that amount was sent in a single transaction. It is possible that the hackers themselves carried it out.

Fraudsters often stage fake cryptocurrency giveaways. Usually, they use the names of celebrities — for example, Google’s founder Sergey Brin, Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates, Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak, or Tesla’s head Elon Musk.

Earlier in September, attackers exploited the hype around Apple’s product launch, organizing a fake cryptocurrency giveaway.

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