ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees Reveals Hack Was an Inside Job

Swiss-based digital currency exchange Shapeshift.io was shut down last week following a breach, which resulted in hackers emptying out the exchange’s hot wallet. In the aftermath of the incident, Shapeshift CEO Erik Voorhees assured clients that no funds were lost and that an investigation was underway.

In a statement posted today on the Shapeshift subreddit, Voorhees revealed that the incident was an inside job. According to his statement, an outside hacker was aided by a former employee of Shapeshift, “We are confident now that is is indeed the case.” said Voorhees.

Voorhees explained:

“Since the investigation into the ShapeShift hack last week started, we had suspicion that someone previously on the team was involved, and that this person assisted an outside hacker.”

The investigation is still ongoing and an expert from Ledger Labs – a blockchain consulting firm based in Toronto – has been brought in to assist with the discovery process. In his statement, Voorhees reiterated that trader’s funds were never at risk during the intrusion, “Again, no customer funds were ever at risk, by design.” he writes.

Voorhees also mentioned that a civil suit is currently ongoing and that a full criminal investigation of all the parties involved has been opened. While the release omitted any specifics such as the name of the former employee who aided the hacker, or what exploits were utilized in the intrusion, Voorhees said that “a more detailed post-mortem” will be release at a later date.

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