Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès said a Ledger hardware wallet he received appeared to have been tampered with and fitted with a hidden spy module. In his account, the device came from Malaysia and still had intact shrink wrap on the outer packaging, making the issue difficult to spot at first glance after opening the box. He said the implanted component was concealed where a cushioning pad behind the screen would normally sit.
Karpelès said the module included LTE communication hardware, an antenna, an eSIM, and a microcontroller connected to the Ledger SPI bus. According to his description, the setup could analyze the characters shown to the user on the device and send out the relevant data after the mnemonic phrase setup process was completed. He added that an attacker could then monitor the victim’s wallet addresses and move assets at a chosen time.
He urged users to inspect their devices by following Ledger’s official guidance.
BlockBeats reported on Oct. 10 that former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès said a Ledger hardware wallet he received appeared to have been implanted with a spy module.
He said the device came from Malaysia. The outer shrink wrap was intact, and the abnormality was not easy to detect immediately after opening the package. According to his post, the implanted part was hidden in the position where a cushioning pad behind the screen would normally be placed.
Karpelès said the module contained LTE communication components, an antenna, an eSIM, and a microcontroller connected to the Ledger SPI bus. He said it could analyze the characters displayed to the user by the device and send the related data after the mnemonic phrase setup was completed.
He added that an attacker could then monitor the victim’s wallet addresses and choose when to move the assets. He advised users to inspect their devices in line with Ledger’s official guidance.
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