In Asia and Europe, manipulated Ledger hardware devices have been found. It seems that about 100 million USD has been lost so far. Here is what's important:
If you bought your device directly from Ledger, you are safe (at least I have heard of no other cases). This is a supply chain attack. Some authorized resellers seem to have sold manipulated devices that contain additional cables and an LTE module. The LTE module lets the perpetrators send information from the Ledger to themselves. Which information? The seed phrase! The manipulated devices can read what the Ledger's screen shows. If the thieves record the screen while you set up the wallet, they can use your seed phrase to get access to your funds.
It is absolutely insane that this is possible. Ledger has disqualified itself many times over the years. Now it seems Ledger does not check thoroughly enough what its "authorized resellers" sell. After leaking users' personal data several times, this is a new low. In 2020, my home address leaked together with the information that I had bought a Ledger. Luckily I was planning to move anyway, but I still spent months afraid that someone might want to rob me. I never touched or recommended Ledger again.
Someone bought a Ledger at a MediaMarkt (in Germany, I assume) and found cables and an LTE module inside:
Post on X: a Ledger bought at MediaMarkt with cables and an LTE module inside
Here is a list of resellers to watch. It includes MediaMarkt and Saturn, two of the biggest electronics stores in Austria and Germany:
Post on X: list of resellers to watch
Ledger's acknowledgment:
Ledger Support on X: acknowledgment
Ledger's update on the compromised devices in Asia:
Ledger on X: update on the compromised devices in Asia
Here someone opens a Ledger to see if it has any cables inside:
Post on X: opening a Ledger to look for cables
Now open your device. If you find cables or anything else that should not be there, act immediately:
Whenever you create a new wallet, always test that it works and that the backup is valid before you send funds to it. I wrote down my process here.
As soon as you have the new hardware wallet, create a new seed and a new passphrase on it, then move the funds from BlueWallet to the new device.
If your device is not affected, I assume it is still safe to use. Personally, I would move away from Ledger in any case.
Ledger offers a website to check the integrity of the hardware:
Ledger's integrity check for your device
But this account says the check does not find the real issue: the implant reads the seed phrase on the Ledger's screen.
Post on X: how the implant reads the seed phrase
the implant is a tiny extra board hidden inside a real ledger. it doesn't hack the secure chip. it just reads the screen when you set up your wallet, your 24 words show up on the display. the implant reads them and sends them out over its own SIM card. the ledger keeps working normally that's why the genuine check doesn't catch it. the check only verifies the ledger chip, and the chip is real. the implant just taps the wire that carries pixels to the screen
Stay safe!
Based on: Bitcoin, Security, Wallets
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