Bittrex, a cryptocurrency exchange, has been sued over a SIM swap that netted criminals 100 Bitcoin, currently worth nearly USD 1 million. bittrex sim hack

The swap was from cellular carrier AT&T, the money was taken from Bittrex, and the hack took control over the victim’s online identity. The victim said that Bittrex violated its own published security protocols and ignored industry standards, missing the chance to stop the high-stakes burglary.

The financial legal examiner concluded that Bittrex did not ‘take reasonable steps to respond’ to the victim’s notice and ‘appears’ to have violated its own terms of service, in a signed letter dated August 30, 2019 provided to CoinDesk by the victim.

Though various legal entities were notified of the hack, they have not yet announced any criminal charges in the case, and as such, the whereabouts of the victim’s Bitcoin are unknown. Bittrex declined to comment specifically about the hack and the court case.

Bittrex ’s response

Bittrex declined to comment specifically about the Bennett hack and the court case.

But CEO Bill Shihara, speaking to CoinDesk about other recent SIM hacks, said the exchange has robust security in place to prevent account breaches, including two-factor authentication and email verification when an unknown IP address logs into an account.

AT&T’s role

Bennett told CoinDesk that he suspects his hack was “an inside job,” as he said that his account PIN and even Social Security number on the account were changed, which would imply that someone at the phone company played a role.

However, AT&T is not named in the Bennett suit, while it’s the focus of similar cases filed by Seth Shapiro and Michael Terpin. bittrex sim hack