Chrome Extension MEGA full of malware that steals popular Monero

Another hack has made its way into the cryptocurrency space, this time going behind Monero (XMR). MEGA, an extension of Google Chrome, has recently been violated, forcing illegally loaded malware to steal the private keys of Monero owners who have installed the browser extension.

Hack Attack On Monero

MEGA, a file sharing cloud storage service made available as a Google Chrome extension, has revealed that it has been compromised by hackers. The hackers managed to tamper with the extension by loading a malicious version on the Google Web Store.

For about five hours, all users who had run the official installer for version 3.39.4 of the MEGA Chrome extension had their compromised accounts and their stolen Monero. Regardless of the illegal access of users to Monero, MEGA has also been able to hack other sensitive information contained in users' devices.

The official Twitter account of Monero has issued a warning to the owners of his altcoin, expelling them to avoid the use of MEGA. [19659004] The tweet said:

PSA: The official MEGA extension has been compromised and now includes features to steal your Monero: https://t.co/vzWwcM9E5k

– Monero || #xmr (@monero) September 4, 2018

Other Issues for Monero

The identity of the hacker (s) remains unknown and one of the first discoveries of the hack it was from a Redditt user, who became suspicious after the extension required a new permit. On the official Reddit page of Monero, the Redditor, called u / gattacus, published:

"There was an update for the extension and Chrome asked for a new permission (read the data on all sites Web) This made me suspicious and I checked the extension code locally (which is mostly javascript anyway) .MEGA also has the source code for the github extension […] There were no recent commits. It seems to me that their Google Webstore account has been hacked or someone inside MEGA did.) Pure speculation though. "

This was not the only instance of a Hacking Monero, although the altcoin is classified as private and untraceable cryptocurrency. XMR has had a series of illegal activities related to it. In June 2018, cryptographic hackers exploited the power of Web visitor computers to secretly extract XMR. A McAfee report strengthened this hack, having found 2.9 million pieces of malware malware, which works through the Coinhive code, a program that allows XMR extraction on a Web browser.

In September 2017, a Russian hacker group hijacked 9,000 computers to extract XMR and other altcoins. They only cost about $ 209,000 in Monero through the installation of cryptographic malware on computers over a two-year period.

XMR is currently ranked as the tenth largest cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization of over $ 2 billion.

Interested in more cryptocurrency news? Visit our cryptocurrency news site here for more information.