Hackers tricked GoDaddy into helping attacks on cryptocurrency services
GoDaddy’s 2020 security woes aren’t over. KrebsOnSecurity has found that hackers tricked GoDaddy employees into handing ownership or control of multiple cryptocurrency services’ web domains, inadvertently aiding attacks that brought sites down. It’s not certain how many companies fell victim to the effort, but Liquid.com and NiceHash reported problems within days of each other. Bibox, Celsius and Wirex might also have been among the targets, although they haven’t confirmed anything as of this writing.
It’s uncertain just how the hackers succeeded, but a successful March campaign against sites like Escrow.com likely relied on “vishing,” or voice calls that point targets toward phishing sites meant to harvest account sign-ins. Attackers frequently try to convince staff they’re from a company’s IT department and just want to resolve technical issues.
A GoDaddy spokesperson confirmed that a “limited number” of staff had fallen victim to “social engineering” attacks that let the intruders make unauthorized changes to domains and accounts. It responded by reverting changes, locking down accounts and helping victims regain access.
This comes roughly a year after a data breach affecting 28,000 hosting accounts and doesn’t help with GoDaddy’s image. It may have been difficult for the company to void vishing, mind you. GoDaddy has joined many other companies in having staff work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. That could make it harder to verify the legitimacy of a caller or website. As such, this might be a problem for many companies, even once it’s safe to return to offices.
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