BitNZ MailJet Hack

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An interesting case, where the breach affected accounts directly, by the exploit of a third party mail provider. 2FA was supported but not enabled on many accounts. The exploit suggests that all the coins taken were stored in a hot wallet, so smaller reserves or any sort of time delay would have reduced the losses. Any platform protecting the funds in cold storage would have also been protected the moment the withdrawals were noticed as suspicious. After repaying customers, BitNZ continued to operate until eventually shutting down in 2017 over banking difficulties.

This exchange or platform is based in New Zealand, or the incident targeted people primarily in New Zealand.

About BitNZ

“Danial Newton, the administrator of bitnz in a reddit post explained that he believes that the perpetrator gained access to the exchanges outward mail queue at MailJet.com and then set about resetting people’s accounts and intercepting the reset codes.” “On Monday, 11 August 2014 at 3am NZ time, \~39 bitcoins were stolen from bitNZ. Our email relay service provider was hacked which enabled the attacker to view all outgoing emails. The attacker used this information to reset user passwords and intercept the password reset email. If the user did not have 2FA the attacker was able to log on as the user and initiate a withdrawal. At the moment I am still analysing the the event and making sure the vulnerability is plugged (revoke email relay access, reset passwords/api-keys, purge sessions, check if user emails were modified etc).” “In mid-February, New Zealand bitcoin exchange BitNZ revealed it was ‘impossible’ to continue operations claiming New Zealand banks’ refusal to offer banking services to the platform. BitNZ, which has been functional since 2011, claimed to have processed over 11,000 bank transactions” “The New Zealand Bitcoin exchange Bitnz has recently announced to its customers it will be closing its doors soon. The company explains the unfortunate closure is due to a New Zealand banking system that won’t allow Bitcoin operations to hold bank accounts.” “Questions over bitNZ’s compliance with AML/KYC requirements were quickly answered, with the exchange having complied in full.”

This exchange or platform is based in New Zealand, or the incident targeted people primarily in New Zealand.

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 - BitNZ MailJet Hack

Date	Event	Description
August 1st, 2014 12:00:34 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 $23,000 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

Coming soon.

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.