Popular NFT influencer Zeneca_33 tweeted a statement explaining how the latest hack of his Twitter account came about. He also explained how this hack has affected his community and mentioned safeguards he will put in place to prevent anything similar from happening in the future. More crucially, Zeneca_33 also explained the reasons why he decided not to reimburse the victims of his Twitter hack. Here’s why.
How Zeneca_33’s Twitter account got compromised
Zeneca_33 took to Twitter to write an open letter to his followers, following his Twitter hack. “A bad actor gained access to my account and tweeted a “stealth mint” with a link to a malicious website. The website looked convincing and was in the style of the official ZenAcademy website,” he wrote. “Going forward I am tightening my security even more — ordering yubikey hardware devices for 2FA for all social accounts for both myself as well as ZA/333.”
Zeneca_33 explained that both he and his team were devastated by this attack. “I received a WhatsApp call from a member of my team and that alerted me that something might be amiss. I quickly checked our internal Slack server and that’s when I saw what happened.”
“This was minutes 0-2. The wider community was already kicking into gear and sharing alerts/safety announcements in their respective Discords, and the word was spreading on twitter. “DO NOT MINT” was literally trending,” he added.
Within 10 minutes, Justin Sun from Twitter managed to lock Zeneca_33’s account down. However, the damage had already been done. Many people within the ZenAcademy Discord had interacted with the fake website and lost assets.
The ZenAcademy Founder’s apology
The ZenAcademy Founder apologized profusely to those who had lost money because of this NFT Twitter hack. “While there are steps you can take to put in place best security practices, there is always the capacity for mistakes within us.”
He also mentioned how the general infrastructure can be improved to prevent such an attack. Zeneca_33 wrote, “There is room for improvement at the infrastructure level where we can build in protections to mitigate the scope and extent of damages that can occur when an attack like yesterday happens.”
While many projects typically decide to reimburse people who lose money because of hacks, Zeneca _ 33 chose a different approach. He decided not to reimburse these individuals, as he claimed this action would be “unsustainable.” Additionally, he pointed out that web3 is based on decentralization and self-custody. “The sad reality also is that if people get used to / expect compensation, it makes it less likely that people will truly learn the importance of personal security and wallet safety.”
A new response when it comes to hacks
An influential figure like Zeneca_33 will undoubtedly kickstart a new trend in terms of projects’ responses to hacks. The web3 ethos of self-custody makes it even more urgent for people involved in web3 to learn about the importance of security. Although tragic, these hacks serve as lessons for those who are still getting used to this new technology.
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