Hackers steal NFT from Nifty Gateway users
Some users of the NFT digital art market called Nifty Gateway reported that hackers stole thousands of dollars worth of digital works from their accounts.
Registered credit cards were also used to purchase additional NFTs, which also cost thousands of dollars, which were then transferred to a hacker's account.
Nifty Gateway, a marketplace where users can buy, sell and view digital items, confirmed in a statement that some accounts without two-factor authentication had been compromised and were in contact with those affected, but said it had seen no evidence that its platform had been breached.
And Nifty Giveaway notes that the hackers may have succeeded in reusing login data that was leaked from other services.
"We have not seen any indication that the Nifty Gateway platform has been compromised, and our team is in contact with a small number of users who appear to have been affected by the account takeover," the statement read.
The statement added: Our initial assessment indicated that the impact was limited, two-factor authentication was not enabled for any of the affected accounts, and access was obtained via valid account data.
Over the past few weeks, many irreplaceable icons have suddenly become high-value assets, with Grimes selling a series of 10 digital artworks for about $ 6 million, while digital artist Beeple has sold digital artworks for $ 69 million at Christie's.
Accordingly, it is not surprising that NFT platforms have become targets for hackers looking to steal digital artwork or take credit card information to buy more.
To help prevent future breaches, Nifty Gateway recommends enabling two-factor authentication.
The statement said: We encourage our users to enable the two-factor authentication that we provide across the platform and never reuse passwords, and we have seen some reports that non-exchangeable tokens involved in these account acquisitions were sold in transactions negotiated via Discord or Twitter, We strongly encourage all Nifty Gateway customers to purchase non-exchangeable tokens from the official Nifty Gateway marketplace.
Given the blockchain-based nature of NFT, Nifty Giveaway does not control NFT once it is stolen, so it appears unlikely that affected users will be able to recover their lost groups.
Although hackers have sought out Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the past to make money, NFT is unique in that it cannot be exchanged for another NFT in the same way as Bitcoin, as the elements they represent are unique.