Social Engineering

Definition ∞ Social engineering is a non-technical method of influencing people to give up confidential information or perform actions that benefit the attacker. It relies on psychological manipulation rather than exploiting software vulnerabilities. Common tactics include impersonation, pretexting, and baiting to gain trust and extract data.
Context ∞ Social engineering tactics are frequently employed in cyberattacks targeting individuals and organizations within the digital asset space, often leading to the compromise of private keys or access to exchanges. News reports regularly document instances where users have been deceived into transferring funds or revealing sensitive credentials. Awareness and education regarding these manipulative techniques are paramount for mitigating such security risks.

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→Social Engineering

→Financial Fraud

→Law Enforcement

Thai Crypto Users Drained by Social Engineering Credential Theft Attack

Sophisticated social engineering bypassed centralized exchange security, enabling account takeover and asset liquidation via P2P markets.

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→High Value Target

→Social Engineering

→CoinJoin Mixing

Individual Bitcoin Investor Drained $91 Million via Social Engineering Attack

This high-value breach confirms that the human layer remains the critical attack surface, leveraging sophisticated impersonation to bypass hardware wallet security.

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→Software Development Security

→Developer Tooling Risk

→On-Chain Security

Malicious VS Code Extension Steals Developer Private Keys via Supply Chain Attack

The compromise of development environments through trojanized tooling weaponizes the software supply chain to exfiltrate critical private keys.

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→Internal Controls Failure

→Network Segmentation

→Zero-Trust Architecture

Centralized Exchange Drained $44.2 Million via Employee Malware Attack

A sophisticated social engineering vector bypassed internal controls, leveraging employee access to compromise core exchange servers and drain assets.

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→Phishing Campaign

→User Trust Exploit

→Web3 Security

Crypto Users Drained by Malicious Front-End Script Injection on Information Sites

The escalating shift from smart contract exploits to client-side supply chain attacks bypasses server-side security, weaponizing user trust.

→Token Permit

→User Vigilance

→Private Key Theft

New Phishing-as-a-Service Group Targets Users with Wallet Drainer Kits

The emergence of the Eleven Drainer PhaaS syndicate industrializes social engineering, weaponizing malicious smart contract scripts to bypass user-side wallet security.

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→Seed Phrase Theft

→Endpoint Security

→Supply Chain Attack

Malicious Wallet Extension Steals Seed Phrases via Covert Sui Microtransactions

A malicious browser extension covertly exfiltrates user seed phrases by encoding them into negligible Sui microtransactions, enabling silent, total asset compromise.

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→Security Posture

→Account Abstraction

→Malicious Signature

EIP-7702 Exploit Weaponizes Wallet Upgrade Functionality against Users

The weaponization of EIP-7702's delegation logic by Phishing-as-a-Service syndicates bypasses traditional wallet security, accelerating user-level asset drain operations.

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→Malware Delivery

→Threat Actor Group

→Social Engineering

Threat Actor LARVA-208 Targets Web3 Developers via Fake AI Platform Malware

Sophisticated spearphishing campaign delivers the Fickle infostealer via malicious 'audio driver' download, compromising developer credentials and project supply chains.

→Micro Transaction

→Supply Chain Attack

→Wallet

Malicious Chrome Extension Steals Seed Phrases via Covert Sui Transactions

A high-ranking malicious wallet extension weaponized the Sui blockchain to covertly exfiltrate user mnemonics, bypassing traditional network monitoring.