Researchers Report SIM-Enabled Implants in Ledger Wallets and Claim More Than $100 Million Stolen
Summary
The article says researchers found SIM-enabled hardware implants in Ledger wallets that steal recovery seeds. It claims more than $100 million has been stolen, but says the full scope is unknown.
Key points
- The article attributes findings about multiple generations of implants in Ledger Nano, Flex, and Stax wallets to security researchers led by Joe Grand.
- The described implants include flexible circuit boards, an eSIM, antenna, and LTE module, and allegedly transmit stolen recovery seeds.
- The article says attackers replace the battery with a smaller one to make room for the implant and repackage affected devices as new.
- It alleges compromised devices appeared in sales from authorized vendors, including one in Asia; the extent of affected vendors is unknown.
- The article claims more than $100 million has been stolen but provides no further detail on the losses or their verification.
- It says visual inspection after opening a device is the only way to detect the implants, and warns that they may be made to look legitimate.
Article Details
- Incident Type
- Supply-chain hardware compromise of cryptocurrency hardware wallets, involving physical implants that steal recovery seeds and transmit them via cellular components.
- Data Types Exposed
- Secret recovery seeds
- Cryptocurrency wallet secret keys
- Operational Impact
- Wallets were modified with hardware implants that could expose recovery seeds and enable attackers to take control of cryptocurrency assets. The article reports that over a hundred million dollars had been stolen, but does not specify the number of victims or wallets.
- Claim Status
- alleged