One of the first Bitcoin websites, Bitcoin.org, has suffered a security breach and has gone offline for the time being.
Bitcoin.org's anonymous curator Cobra announced on Thursday that the site had been compromised, with the attackers managing to post a scam notice on the website.
“Looks like Bitcoin.org got hacked and the entire site replaced with a scam asking for free Bitcoin. Do not send funds to that address,” said a Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) postby Bitcoin developer Matt Corallo.
The website was temporarily disabled by Namecheap following a query from Corallo, and according to Cobra, the Bitcoin.org website "may be down for a few days."
Just before Bitcoin.org went offline, users reported a typical fake giveaway announcement on the website. The scammers had already managed to trick users into sending $17,000 to their address.
https://t.co/Tp6AcXavUW has been breached. Visiting the website displays the classic 'double your money' scam. The scammers have profited (as of this writing) roughly $17,000.#Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/BXFMqC61EW— vx-underground (@vxunderground) September 23, 2021
Shortly after disabling the site, Cobra revealed that the hackers took advantage of a flaw in the DNS, assuring that the site’s Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) accounts and servers were unaffected by the attack.
Interestingly, the incident is not the first of its kind. Bitcoin.org previously suffered a DDoS attack in July. The July attack came a week after a UK court ordered the website to stop hosting Bitcoin white paper, a ruling that favored self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto and BSV proponent Craig Wright.