August 28, 2023
A Kroll employee fell victim to a SIM swapping attack on August 19, 2023. The attacker was able to convince T-Mobile to transfer the employee’s phone number to their own phone, which gave them access to certain files containing personal information of bankruptcy claimants in the matters of BlockFi, FTX, and Genesis.
SIM swapping is a type of fraud in which the attacker tricks a mobile carrier into transferring a victim’s phone number to a SIM card that they control. This allows the attacker to intercept SMS messages and voice calls, and to receive multi-factor authentication (MFA) codes that are used to secure online accounts.
In this case, the attacker was able to obtain enough personal information about the Kroll employee to convince T-Mobile to transfer the phone number.
Kroll acted quickly to secure the stolen accounts and promptly alerted impacted users through email. While the inquiry is ongoing, it has so far yielded no signs of larger system or account breach.
This announcement comes on the heels of Blockchain Capital co-founder Bart Stephens launching a lawsuit against an unidentified hacker who allegedly planned a SIM swapping assault, resulting in the theft of $6.3 million in cryptocurrencies.
The sources for this piece include an article in TheHackerNews.
