Bitcoin trading platform hacked

Mt.Gox a Bitcoin trading platform has been hacked overnight and users email, password and account details stolen.  It has not been confirmed yet whether Bitcoin account holdings are safe or whether account balances have also been compromised.

Read more here from www.dailytech.com

According to one expert HA is in contact with, “Initial reports seem to indicate the leak initiated from a compromised auditors machine rather than a hard hack on the system itself through SQL injection attack or similar, none the less any compromise will generate trust concerns on the platform itself.”

The email from Mt.Gox ’support’ to users says,

“Dear Mt.Gox user,

 Our database has been compromised, including your email. We are working on a quick resolution and to begin with, your password has been disabled as a security measure (and you will need to reset it to login again on Mt.Gox). 

If you were using the same password on Mt.Gox and other places (email, etc), you should change this password as soon as possible. 

…The informations there will be updated as our investigation progresses.

Please accept our apologies for the troubles caused, and be certain we will do everything we can to keep the funds entrusted with us as secure as possible. 

The leaked data includes the following: 

- Account number
- Account login
- Email address
- Encrypted password 

While the password is encrypted, it is possible to bruteforce most passwords with time, and it is likely bad people are working on this right now. 

Any unauthorized access done to any account you own (email, mtgox, etc) should be reported to the appropriate authorities in your country. 

Thanks,

The Mt.Gox team”

Users are now also getting spammed with the following,

Dear Sir or Madam, 

A few hours ago the Bitcoin trading website Mt Gox has been hacked. Malicious individuals have been able to obtain a database containing usernames, email address and encrypted passwords. This information has been posted publicly on the internet. 

As a Bitcoin supporter I’m now sending a message to every email address contained in the hacked database. This is to warn you that your username, email address and password have been leaked. I therefore strongly advice you to change your passwords. If you have used the same password on different websites it’s highly recommended to change your password on all of your accounts! 

For a more secure alternative to Mt Gox, the community appears to be moving to TradeHill. So this is no reason to lose faith in Bitcoin itself. It must be seen as a warning that not every website can be trusted with your data however! Their link is [HA: We’ve taken the link out](Note: You can remove the Referral Code when registering if you want!) This is certainly not the only website where you can exchange Bitcoins, also check out [HA: We’ve taken the link out].

 Sincerely,

 A Bitcoin supporter

Keep an eye on this story in the tech media who will no doubt follow it up in more detail.  HA will keep readers posted as and when…