In recent days, the Salvadoran government's bitcoin program has been the victim of serious cybercriminal attacks. A few days ago, hackers leaked the personal data of more than 5 million Salvadorans. The same cybercriminals have just published extracts of the source code and VPN access of the Chivo national bitcoin wallet on CiberInteligenciaSV, an online hacking forum. Details.
New cybercriminal attack against El Salvador's bitcoin wallet
This is a big blow for El Salvador which is fighting to be a pioneer in bitcoin adoption. A few days ago, hackers had already leaked the personal data of 5.1 million users of the Chivo bitcoin wallet. The personal data of almost the entire Salvadoran adult population had been exposed. Faced with government silence, hackers have moved up a gear by publishing more sensitive information.
On the morning of April 22, they had warned that they would release the source code and VPN access of Chivo Wallet if the government did not talk with them. The same day, VenariX, a cybersecurity project, relayed the information about X to warn the public. Unfortunately, the hackers followed through on their threat. They published in the CiberInteligenciaSV group, the Codigo.rar file including a compilation of the source code and VPN identifiers of the Chivo Wallet ATM network.
El Salvador's national bitcoin program undermined
By publishing such sensitive information in this post-halving period, El Salvador's entire national bitcoin program is under attack. The leaked data allows hackers to take control of wallet users' accounts without authorization. It is therefore the reliability and security of the digital solutions proposed by President Nayib Bukele that are being called into question.
In fact, the Chivo wallet allows Salvadorans to buy and sell bitcoins. Chivo allows them to hold bitcoins and withdraw them from ATMs. Launched in 2021 to accelerate the adoption of crypto by Salvadorans, the wallet had a very difficult start due to certain technical problems. People had to be encouraged via bonuses of 30 dollars to open their accounts. Their concerns are now heightened.
Furthermore, in this post-halving period, any attack on a large bitcoin wallet is a real blow. Curiously, although El Salvador has strengthened its bitcoin reserves very recently, the country's government has still not reacted. We have to hope that pirates don't release a new map.
Maximize your Tremplin.io experience with our 'Read to Earn' program! For every article you read, earn points and access exclusive rewards. Sign up now and start earning benefits.
