MyEtherWallet Google Public DNS: Difference between revisions

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{{Imported Case Study|source=https://www.quadrigainitiative.com/casestudy/myetherwalletgooglepublicdns.php}}
{{Imported Case Study 2|source=https://www.quadrigainitiative.com/casestudy/myetherwalletgooglepublicdns.php}}
{{Unattributed Citations}}
{{Unattributed Sources}}


[[File:Myetherwallet.jpg|thumb|MyEtherWallet]]MyEtherWallet suffered from their DNS being rerouted to an attack website, hosted in Russia. The attackers managed to compromise a number of people's accounts, who attempted to use the site at this time. 515 ETH were stolen. There is no evidence of any recovery.
[[File:Myetherwallet.jpg|thumb|MyEtherWallet]]MyEtherWallet suffered from their DNS being rerouted to an attack website, hosted in Russia. The attackers managed to compromise a number of people's accounts, who attempted to use the site at this time. 515 ETH were stolen. There is no evidence of any recovery.


This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.
This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.<ref name="coincentral-5943" /><ref name="forbes-5944" /><ref name="dentcointwitter-5945" /><ref name="etherscan-5946" /><ref name="etherscan-5947" /><ref name="myetherwallettwitter-5948" /><ref name="reddit-5949" /><ref name="reddit-5950" /><ref name="reddit-5951" /><ref name="reddit-5952" /><ref name="imgur-5953" /><ref name="doublepulsar-5954" /><ref name="cryptocoinsociety-5956" />
<ref name="coincentral-5943" /><ref name="forbes-5944" /><ref name="dentcointwitter-5945" /><ref name="etherscan-5946" /><ref name="etherscan-5947" /><ref name="myetherwallettwitter-5948" /><ref name="reddit-5949" /><ref name="reddit-5950" /><ref name="reddit-5951" /><ref name="reddit-5952" /><ref name="imgur-5953" /><ref name="doublepulsar-5954" /><ref name="cryptocoinsociety-5956" />


== About MyEtherWallet ==
== About MyEtherWallet ==
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!Description
!Description
|-
|-
|April 24th, 2018 8:29:00 AM
|April 24th, 2018 8:29:00 AM MDT
|Main Event
|Main Event
|Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.
|Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.
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== Ongoing Developments ==
== Ongoing Developments ==
What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?
What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?
== General Prevention Policies ==
The website popped up with an SSL certificate warning. Do not proceed to enter sensitive information if such occurs. The way to prevent the incident more thoroughly is to never use online tools to store funds. Always store private keys and sign transactions offline, on a device such as a hardware wallet. Keep most of your funds in a cold storage wallet, and withdraw only what you need.
== Individual Prevention Policies ==
{{Prevention:Individuals:Placeholder}}
{{Prevention:Individuals:End}}


== Prevention Policies ==
== Platform Prevention Policies ==
The website popped up with an SSL certificate warning. Do not proceed to enter sensitive information if such occurs. The way to prevent the incident more thoroughly is to never use online tools to store funds. Always store private keys and sign transactions offline, on a device such as a hardware wallet. Keep most of your funds in a cold storage wallet, and withdraw only what you need.
{{Prevention:Platforms:Placeholder}}
 
{{Prevention:Platforms:End}}
 
== Regulatory Prevention Policies ==
{{Prevention:Regulators:Placeholder}}
 
{{Prevention:Regulators:End}}


== References ==
== References ==

Revision as of 10:36, 14 April 2023

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MyEtherWallet

MyEtherWallet suffered from their DNS being rerouted to an attack website, hosted in Russia. The attackers managed to compromise a number of people's accounts, who attempted to use the site at this time. 515 ETH were stolen. There is no evidence of any recovery.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]

About MyEtherWallet

"MEW (MyEtherWallet) is a free, client-side interface helping you interact with the Ethereum blockchain. Our easy-to-use, open-source platform allows you to generate wallets, interact with smart contracts, and so much more."

"Taylor Manahan and Kosala Hemachandra founded MEW (MyEtherWallet) back in 2015, not long after Ethereum was created."

"On April 24, 2018 the popular Ethereum wallet MyEtherWallet suffered a phishing attack on its Google Public DNS."

"According to the multitude of Reddit posts, the faulty IP address and name server are Russian in origin. Users also tracked the filched funds back to two wallet addresses, one of which the MyEtherWallet team has labelled as Fake_Phishing899 in response to the attack. At press time, funds have been moved from these addresses, split up, and scattered through a variety of fresh wallets to obscure their allocation."

"While they have yet to corroborate the origin of the hack, the MyEtherWallet team did confirm on Twitter that a “[couple] of DNS servers were hijacked.” The team claims that the security breach was not a result of vulnerabilities on myetherwallet.com and that they are working on resolving the issue immediately."

"Couple of DNS servers were hijacked to resolve http://myetherwallet.com users to be redirected to a phishing site. This is not on @myetherwallet side, we are in the process of verifying which servers to get it resolved asap."

"As with past phishing attacks that have targeted Ethereum-powered wallets or exchanges, the hacker(s) could only compromise accounts whose users entered their private keys on the fake website. As such, if you attempted to access MyEtherWallet at the time of the attack with a hardware wallet or MetaMask, your funds would be safe. Additionally, as the phishing attack hijacked the wallet service’s Google Public DNS, some users who accessed myetherwallet.com from another one of its domain name server hosts wouldn’t have run into issues."

"Hmm, Google's DNS server 8.8.8.8 is returning wrong IP for www. myetherwallet .com and the SSL certificate returned is invalid , BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!"

"PSA: DON'T LOGIN to check if all of your crypto is gone, because then it will for sure be gone! This is exactly what the malicious entities would want you to do!"

"Some 515 ETH ($360,500) has been stolen as a result of the hack."

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

  • Known history of when and how the service was started.
  • What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
  • What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
  • Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
  • Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
  • How were people recruited to participate?
  • Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

  • Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
  • Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

  • When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
  • Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
  • How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
  • Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - MyEtherWallet Google Public DNS
Date Event Description
April 24th, 2018 8:29:00 AM MDT Main Event Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $361,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

General Prevention Policies

The website popped up with an SSL certificate warning. Do not proceed to enter sensitive information if such occurs. The way to prevent the incident more thoroughly is to never use online tools to store funds. Always store private keys and sign transactions offline, on a device such as a hardware wallet. Keep most of your funds in a cold storage wallet, and withdraw only what you need.

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.

References