[2017-12-06] RUMOUR: NiceHash hacked, 56 million USD stolen from users

[zakalwe]

There have been many tweets and posts on Facebook in the last 5 hours, saying that NiceHash has probably been hacked.
People say that hackers stolen 56 million USD worth of bitcoins. Many user's addresses have been emptied few hours ago.
NiceHash website is down and the only update from the company is this (9 hours ago)

Dear NiceHash user, our service is currently under maintenance.
We are sorry for the inconvenience and please stay tuned for updates.
Thank you for your understanding.

This is supposed to be BTC address of the hackers: https://bitinfocharts.com/bitcoin/address/1EnJHhq8Jq8vDuZA5ahVh6H4t6jh1mB4rq
Containing 4736 BTC worth 60 million USD.

MORE INFO:
Twitter debate: https://twitter.com/nagyga1/status/938391838037127168
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/NiceHash/comments/7hxxp3/hicehash_hacked/

[laurenB7742]

NiceHash on Facebook, 35 minutes ago:

Dear NiceHash users!

Unfortunately, there has been a security breach involving NiceHash website. We are currently investigating the nature of the incident and, as a result, we are stopping all operations for the next 24 hours.

Importantly, our payment system was compromised and the contents of the NiceHash Bitcoin wallet have been stolen. We are working to verify the precise number of BTC taken.

Clearly, this is a matter of deep concern and we are working hard to rectify the matter in the coming days. In addition to undertaking our own investigation, the incident has been reported to the relevant authorities and law enforcement and we are co-operating with them as a matter of urgency.

We are fully committed to restoring the NiceHash service with the highest security measures at the earliest opportunity.

We would not exist without our devoted buyers and miners all around the globe. We understand that you will have a lot of questions, and we ask for patience and understanding while we investigate the causes and find the appropriate solutions for the future of the service. We will endeavour to update you at regular intervals.

While the full scope of what happened is not yet known, we recommend, as a precaution, that you change your online passwords.

We are truly sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused and are committing every resource towards solving this issue as soon as possible.

[razorseal]

Yup it's official... as of now, it's around 62 mil dollars. Watch for btc to drop, and make sure you stock up on it as it shoots up!

I lost about 70 dollars... too bad. I had just started with them too. About 3 weeks in.

[rjp55]

this is serious people, this can decrease the interest and trust in crypto currency. waiting for more detailed news and wanting to see who is responsible for this.

[razorseal]

this is serious people, this can decrease the interest and trust in crypto currency. waiting for more detailed news and wanting to see who is responsible for this.

What can they do with this money though? That wallet is going to be on a hotlist and closely watched. It's not like they can go to GDAX, send it there and cash it out.

When USDT got hit for 30 million last week, it didn't even budge bitcoin, I don't know what this will do.

[veleten]

Nicehash was the main attraction to the people who were new
to the crypta world and wanted to dive in straight away and mine some coins on their equipment
of course,in most cases it was a waste of time if we are talking about profit
but it helped to get acquainted with bitcoin and altcoins
so now its fate is unclear,hope NH recover from the hack and continue its operations

[razorseal]

Nicehash was the main attraction to the people who were new
to the crypta world and wanted to dive in straight away and mine some coins on their equipment
of course,in most cases it was a waste of time if we are talking about profit
but it helped to get acquainted with bitcoin and altcoins
so now its fate is unclear,hope NH recover from the hack and continue its operations

How was it a waste of mine? I was making about 75 dollars a month on my gaming computer that I never shut off. All of a sudden, it started making money for me in btc. It burned about 34 dollars in electric (which I didn't see as a cost since it never shut off anyways).

[Rickirs]

Nicehash was the main attraction to the people who were new
to the crypta world and wanted to dive in straight away and mine some coins on their equipment
of course,in most cases it was a waste of time if we are talking about profit
but it helped to get acquainted with bitcoin and altcoins
so now its fate is unclear,hope NH recover from the hack and continue its operations

How was it a waste of mine? I was making about 75 dollars a month on my gaming computer that I never shut off. All of a sudden, it started making money for me in btc. It burned about 34 dollars in electric (which I didn't see as a cost since it never shut off anyways).

And you were mining ?

[veleten]

Nicehash was the main attraction to the people who were new
to the crypta world and wanted to dive in straight away and mine some coins on their equipment
of course,in most cases it was a waste of time if we are talking about profit
but it helped to get acquainted with bitcoin and altcoins
so now its fate is unclear,hope NH recover from the hack and continue its operations

How was it a waste of mine? I was making about 75 dollars a month on my gaming computer that I never shut off. All of a sudden, it started making money for me in btc. It burned about 34 dollars in electric (which I didn't see as a cost since it never shut off anyways).

uhm,I don't want to sound rude,but 75$ a month mining on a gaming PC is a waste of time
and to mine that much you got to have a pretty decent specs and leave it running 24/7,so once you discover Nice Hash and read more about bitcoins
you should move on and find different ways of earning/getting cryptocurrencies,other than killing your equipment for pennies
that is what NH was very useful for,not letting you earn less than if you just got your PC pointed at some pool and mined directly
becuase the rates there are much lower,they are using autoswitching algorythms to mine the most profitable alt
besides they take fees,there is a min payout limit etc. etc.

[Iranus]

75$ a month mining on a gaming PC is a waste of time

Depends on the PC and the GPU that they have.  No point making generalised statements like that.

Nicehash itself certainly wasn't a waste of time either.  It was convenient and it was useful.  When you have a GPU you can mine a variety of many different coins, and filtering through them all as a solo miner could be a lot of effort.

Regardless, how useful Nicehash was doesn't affect how important it is that their users are losing millions.  It's extremely important.

[scitechindian]

lost about 0.24BTC 

[Pro_x]

maibe its easy to be gone through monero, zec.. I can imagine internal grab. from 0 to hero in such short time, why would anyone bother. In times when all blockchain companies adding new staff daily, you should have your coins with you.

[wilhb81]

Just being noticeable with the news on Nicehash's FB page (there are over thousand of frustrating complaints) I was one of the miners in NH. Luckily, I'd made a withdrawal last month (I also lost a little bit of Bitcoin, about ~0.001BTC from this incident)

[Colorblind]

this is serious people, this can decrease the interest and trust in crypto currency. waiting for more detailed news and wanting to see who is responsible for this.

When USDT got hit for 30 million last week, it didn't even budge bitcoin, I don't know what this will do.

It actually did surge price down a lot for few hours. Also Tether issue is very different - tether is centralized and stolen tethers was contained immediately so no stolen funds ever got to the market and probably won't. This is disaster of whole other magnitude. I doubt it will heavily affect market but it will surely shake the trust. Also NiceHash will be in deep trouble soon.