Hackers Shut Down Bank, Then Target Crypto Exchange for $81,700,000 in Bitcoin, DOGE, Tron and More

An Israeli group of hackers is reportedly taking credit for major cyberattacks against an Iranian bank and a crypto exchange.

The Israeli hacking group Predatory Sparrow is claiming responsibility for the cyberattack against Iran’s Bank Sepah that has left customers unable to access their funds, reports Axios.

Local Iranian news has reported that customers’ cards are completely unusable, the mobile app and digital services are down, and most ATMs are out of cash.

Said one man in Tehran, the country’s capital,

“I’ve visited ten ATMs today… None had any cash.”

The hacker group, which publicly goes by the Farsi translation of its name, Gonjeshke Darande, says on the social media platform X that it deleted the state-owned banking system’s data.

“Bank Sepah was an institution that circumvented international sanctions and used the people of Iran’s money to finance the regime’s terrorist proxies, its ballistic missile program and its military nuclear program. This is what happens to institutions dedicated to maintaining the dictator’s terrorist fantasies.”

Bank Sepah has not responded to the incident at time of writing.

Axios says it was unable to immediately verify the hackers’ claims.

The same Israeli hacker group is also claiming responsibility for an attack on the Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex.

On-chain investigator ZachXBT says in a Telegram post that the hackers appear to have stolen at least $81.7 million in digital assets from the platform.

“The Iranian crypto exchange ‘Nobitex’ appears to have been exploited for $81.7M on Tron, Bitcoin, Doge, and EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) chains after suspicious outflows were observed from many wallets linked to them…

The funds were essentially burned permanently and cannot be touched unless stablecoin issuers were to reissue the centralized stablecoins.”

In a post on the social media platform X, Nobitex has confirmed that a security breach occurred.

“Immediately upon detection, all access was suspended and our internal security teams are closely investigating the extent of the incident. We would like to remind you that users’ assets are completely secure according to cold storage standards, and the above incident only affected a portion of the assets in hot wallets.

Nobitex accepts full responsibility for this incident and assures users that all damages will be compensated through the insurance fund and Nobitex resources. Until a full review is completed, the website and app are temporarily unavailable. Further details will also be released once the investigations are complete.”

Follow us on X , Facebook and Telegram

Don't Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox

Check Price Action

Surf The Daily Hodl Mix

Generated Image: Midjourney