A cyber security specialist is accused of stealing $9 million worth of cryptocurrency

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The US government has accused a cybersecurity professional of hacking a cryptocurrency exchange and stealing about $9 million in cryptocurrency, in what appears to be a case of an ethical hacker who turns rogue, then tries to appear ethical again.

In a press release on TuesdayThe US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced the indictment against Shakib Ahmed, 34, describing him as “a chief security engineer for an international technology company, whose resume reflects skills in, among other things, smart contract reverse engineering and blockchain audits.”, namely Some of the specialized skills Ahmed used to carry out the attack.”

It is not mentioned exactly where Ahmed worked. His LinkedIn profile says he’s a senior security engineer at Amazon. August Aldebot-Green, an Amazon spokesperson, told TechCrunch that he is no longer an employee of the company.

While the plaintiffs did not identify the victim, cryptocurrency news site CoinDesk mentioned That the description and date of the hack match the attack on Crema Finance, a Solana-based exchange, which occurred in early July 2022, around the same date—July 2 and 3—that Ahmed allegedly hacked an unnamed exchange.

In this case, the hacker ended up returning about $8 million in cryptocurrency and keeping the rest, As reported at the time. In a press release, DOJ prosecutors said Ahmed “had communications with Crypto Exchange in which he determined to return all but $1.5 million of the stolen funds if Crypto Exchange agreed not to refer the attack to law enforcement.”

This is the very common Practice In the world of coding and web3. In the past, hackers who stole cryptocurrency and offered to return portions of it by negotiating directly with victims sometimes called themselves “white hats,” the cybersecurity language of well-intentioned hackers. Clearly, these hackers have taken a word that has a very clear, obvious meaning and have co-opted it for a practice that is – to say the least – in a gray area.

And as this case shows, giving back some cryptocurrency loot doesn’t mean you won’t get sued.

The feds highlighted the fact that Ahmed, who is accused of wire fraud and money laundering, used the bits he learned in his day jobs to carry out the robbery.

“Ahmed used his skills as a computer security engineer to steal millions of dollars. He then allegedly tried to hide the stolen money, but his skills were no match for the IRS Criminal Investigation Cybercrime Unit,” Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, who works for IRC-CI, said. The Criminal Investigation Branch of the IRS, was quoted as saying in a press release.

Ahmed allegedly exploited a vulnerability in the exchange and inserted “false price data to fraudulently generate millions of dollars in inflated fees, which he did not actually earn but was still able to withdraw”, According to the indictment against Ahmed.

Then, according to the feds, Ahmed allegedly laundered the stolen cryptocurrency “through a series of transactions,” such as swapping tokens, and “bridged” proceeds from the Solana blockchain to the Ethereum blockchain, among other things.

Later, Ahmed also allegedly searched the Internet for information about the hack, his “private criminal liability,” attorneys with experience in similar cases, whether law enforcement could investigate such an attack, and “flight the United States to avoid charges.” criminal.”

Updated with Amazon comment.

Do you have information about this hack or other cyberattacks against crypto projects or cryptocurrency thefts? We’d love to hear from you. From a non-work device, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1917 257 1382, via Wickr, Telegram and Wirelorenzofb, or email [email protected]. You can also contact TechCrunch at SecureDrop.