South Korea National Tax Service Accidentally Exposes Seed Phrase, Leading to $4.8 Million in Stolen Cryptocurrency

A recent incident involving the South Korean National Tax Service (NTS) has resulted in the loss of approximately $4.8 million worth of cryptocurrency due to a data leak. According to a report by South Korean outlet The Ajou Business Daily, the NTS inadvertently published a press release on February 26 that included an un-redacted photograph of a seized hardware wallet, specifically a Ledger device. The image clearly displayed the device's mnemonic seed phrase.

Blockchain data expert Jaewoo Cho confirmed that shortly after the seed phrase became public, the 4 million PRTG tokens stored in the compromised wallet were transferred to an unknown wallet in the early hours of February 27. The estimated loss amounts to roughly 6.4 billion South Korean won.

Analysis indicates that the perpetrator first deposited a small amount of Ethereum into the wallet to cover transaction fees. Subsequently, the entire balance of PRTG tokens was transferred out in three separate transactions.

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