Hackers Used Blockfolio to Send Out Racist Messages
2 min read
Blockfolio, a crypto portfolio tracking app owned by FTX exchange, was compromised today as hackers accessed its service to send out racist and offensive messages to users.
At around 7 am UTC today, Blockfolio’s users started receiving racist messages, with some being told that they were about to lose all their funds.
Blockfolio CEO Sam Bankman-Fried explained that no actual features or funds were affected by the hack as it was mostly the display and news sections that got compromised as well as its communications platform Signal, designed for token projects to provide direct updates to Blockfolio’s users.
“We are incredibly sorry about the offensive messages posted today. 1: no funds/etc. were affected; this did not interact with any trading features. 2: we have revoked access to the compromised Signal submitter and removed the messages,” Blockfolio announced on Twitter.
We are incredibly sorry about the offensive messages posted today.
1: no funds/etc. were affected; this did not interact with any trading features.
2: we have revoked access to the compromised Signal submitter and removed the messages.
— Blockfolio (@blockfolio) February 9, 2021
The firm added that tracking elements of its app will shortly come back online. Furthermore, all Blockfolio users who enabled the trading option—as well as up to a million users who sign up this week—will receive $10 on their accounts as an apology.
2) No trading features/funds/etc. were at risk. Those are part of a totally separate part of the system and are in line with FTX's standards.
The affected portion was around display and news/Signal.
— SBF (@SBF_Alameda) February 9, 2021
“Over the next month I’ll be leading a security review of the old, non-trading-related parts of Blockfolio to bring them in line with the standards set by trading, and by FTX more generally,” he said, adding, “No members of the Blockfolio team wanted this to happen. But we are all responsible for our product and will be doing what we can to fix this. I’ll also be donating to the ACLU today, as will a number of other staff members.”
As Decrypt reported, Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX acquired Blockfolio for $150 million last August.
