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Coingecko’s X Accounts Compromised to Announce Fake Token Airdrop

Hackers briefly took over the official X accounts of major crypto data aggregator Coingecko to promote a fake token launch and airdrop.

The Coingecko incident became the second X hack within 24 hours after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s account was also compromised. 

  • Coingecko announced the news of the hack in an X post on Jan. 10, warning users not to click or engage any suspicious links. The platform further said it would carry out investigations and secure its X accounts. 
  • The compromised tweet, already deleted, announced the rollout of a token called GCKO, with the post directing users to a link to claim airdrops of the token to celebrate the launch. 
  • However, some users appeared to have interacted with the scam link, reporting lost funds as a result. Some others wondered if Coingecko implemented two-factor authentication (2FA) that may have prevented the hack from happening. 
  • The latest incident comes on the heels of a recent hack involving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
  • As previously reported by CryptoPotato, the SEC announced on X the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications, an announcement that sent the price of Bitcoin (BTC) to over $47,600.
  • But shortly after the tweet, SEC chairman Gary Gensler said the agency’s X account was compromised, and the news was fake, with BTC’s price falling to around $45,000 in response. 
  • While there were speculations that the hack was an inside job, a preliminary investigation by X Safety revealed that it happened because an “unidentified individual” took control of a phone number associated with the agency’s account via a third party. 
  • Also, the SEC did not set up a 2FA for its X account, with the lack of proper security measures drawing heavy criticism from the crypto community. 

The post Coingecko’s X Accounts Compromised to Announce Fake Token Airdrop appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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