Security Firm Issues Warning About WordPress Crypto Widgets

Singapore’s cyber security regulators caution that websites employing WordPress crypto widgets, especially price ticker and coins list plugins, can extract sensitive visitor information.

This reiterates the growing sophistication of hackers in their efforts to steal cryptocurrency.

WordPress Crypto Widgets At Risk

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) explained that hackers use SQL Injection to exploit WordPress crypto widgets’ price ticker plugins. This technique targets data-driven applications, posing a serious security risk.

“Price Ticker & Coins List plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to SQL Injection via the ‘coinslist’ parameter in versions 2.0 to 2.6.5 due to insufficient escaping on the user supplied parameter and lack of sufficient preparation on the existing SQL query.”

From there, it was explained that users are subject to their sensitive information being extracted from the hackers, which puts sensitive information such as passwords, and even crypto wallets at risk.

“This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database.”

Read more: What Is a Rug Pull? A Guide to the Web3 Scam

In recent times, hacking has grown increasingly sophisticated, fueled by the burgeoning amounts of money in the crypto industry.

Sophisticated Hacking Trends on the Rise in Recent Times

In December 2023, BeInCrypto reported hackers conducting phishing campaigns on Google and social media, resulting in the theft of millions in crypto from victims.

“A ‘Wallet Drainer’ has been linked to phishing campaigns on Google search and X ads, draining approximately $58M from over 63K victims in 9 months.”

However, Chainalysis highlighted in its recent crime report that revenue from crypto hacking decreased by approximately 54.3% in 2023 compared to the previous year.

Total Cryptocurrency value received by illicit addresses, 2018-2023. Source: Chainalysis

Furthermore, Scam Sniffer found that Wallet Drainers took about $295 million from around 324,000 victims in 2023.

However, while hacking attacks have a widespread impact, the community usually responds quickly, usually within 10-50 minutes.

Read more: 15 Most Common Crypto Scams To Look Out For

Meanwhile, Scam Sniffer notes that airdrops, organic traffic, paid advertising, and hijacked Discord links are not as easily detected.

However, individuals in the crypto industry must remain vigilant not only against hacking of their crypto wallets but also of their social media accounts.

Hackers are increasingly targeting influential social media accounts to spread malicious links to a large following, which presents a potentially more lucrative opportunity for them.

In September 2023, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin had his X (formerly Twitter) account compromised. Shortly after hackers took control of the account, they posted a fraudulent ConsenSys link, swindling almost $700,000 from unsuspecting followers.