Attack on the Creator of Pepe, Scam Trading, and Other Cybersecurity Events

The projects of the creator of the Pepe meme were hacked by North Korean hackers. Cryptocurrency wallet cid phrases are named as the main target of the SparkKitty trojan. IntelBroker hacker and BreachForums operators arrested in France. The Projects of the Pepe Meme Creator Hacked by North Korean Hackers Several cryptocurrency projects associated with Matt Furie, the creator of Pepe the Frog, were hacked by North Korean hackers, resulting in losses totaling over $1 million, according to on-chain detective ZachXBT. Attackers withdrew approximately $310,000 from the Replicandy, Peplicator, Hedz, and Zogz collections, which were created by Furie’s team on the ChainSaw platform. More than $680,000 was stolen from the Favrr project. The hackers gained access to smart contracts, removed restrictions on token issuance, and minted NFTs, which they then sold, causing the value of these assets to drop to zero. ZachXBT speculates that the attacks are linked to North Korean developers hired through freelance platforms. He has recorded regular payments to such “employees” from third-party crypto projects and plans to publish further statistics. SparkKitty Trojan Targets Cryptocurrency Wallet Seed Phrases A new SparkKitty trojan is being distributed via fake app store websites. It masquerades as cryptocurrency applications and modified versions of TikTok, according to Kaspersky Lab. Once installed, the malware requests access to the photo gallery. It tracks changes, creates a local database of stolen images, and uploads them to a remote server. The attackers’ main goal is to find screenshots of cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases. Currently, the trojan primarily targets residents of China and Southeast Asia. IntelBroker and BreachForums Operators Arrested in France The hacker known as IntelBroker and several BreachForums operators were arrested in France. The US Justice Department filed charges against 25-year-old British citizen Kai West, known by his hacker alias IntelBroker, and announced his arrest in February 2025 in France. U.S. authorities are seeking his extradition on charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and electronic fraud. Using the cryptocurrency wallet address, law enforcement identified West’s accounts on the Ramp platform and Coinbase, and found scans of personal documents in the linked email. Also in France this week, four operators of BreachForums v2 were arrested, including ShinyHunters, who served as administrator of the hacker forum after Pompompurin’s capture. IntelBroker was also listed among those running the site after its relaunch. In Russia, a court sentenced four members of the REvil group to five years in prison, according to TASS. However, given the time served in pre-trial detention, they were released from custody after the verdict. U.S. Congress Bans WhatsApp for Legislative Employees The U.S. Congressional Office of Cybersecurity has banned the use of the WhatsApp messenger on all devices used by legislative employees, according to Reuters. The memo described the app as “high risk to users due to its lack of encryption and insufficiently transparent data protection.” Staffers and members of Congress have been advised to switch to Microsoft Teams, Wickr, Signal, or FaceTime for messaging purposes. Meta officials stated that they “strongly disagree” with the move, asserting that the platform provides “a higher level of security than other approved applications.”

Source: Coinpaper