Hackers target Tor users to steal bitcoins

An unknown hacking group used the Tor network to attack users of cryptocurrency sites. reports security researcher Nusenu.

The attackers took control of a significant share of exit nodes of the Tor network — by May 2020 they controlled almost a quarter of all such nodes.

By manipulating traffic, hackers carried out what are known as man-in-the-middle attacks. They swapped users’ traffic from HTTPS addresses to less secure HTTP.

This allowed them to replace Bitcoin addresses in HTTP traffic related to Bitcoin mixers, redirecting transactions to their wallets instead of users’ wallets.

The researcher emphasised that such attacks are not new; however, the scale of the current operation is impressive.

Nusenu alerted Tor operators to the problem. The operators took steps to curb the hackers, but by August the attackers still controlled roughly 10% of exit nodes.

Last year, researchers discovered a counterfeit Tor browser that stole users’ bitcoins.

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