Dogecoin’s 200K Hack

An unknown Dogecoin miner has been hard at work since January.

Dogecoin is a cyrptocurrency or digital currency, like Bitcoin, that became popular through an Internet meme.

SecureWorks, a Dell subsidiary, is reporting that an estimated 500 million Dogecoins were mined by an unknown hacker from January through April of 2014. The coins were mined using the power from storage servers run by Taiwan based Synology Inc.

The 500 million Dogecoins equal out to roughly $200,000 US and, if the hack is legitimate, it constitutes one of the largest illegitimate mining jobs to date.

SecureWorks has been able to determine that the mining hack was most likely conducted by a Germany-based assailant. Thanks to blockchain information, the address and wallets that the mined Dogecoins were sent to was identified.

That is as far as the identification goes however. This is another incident of cryptocurrency mined through illegitimate means without clear resolution. The hacker reportedly took advantage of Synology’s servers and computing power. The Dogecoins were not stolen, but rather obtained without the knowledge of the company that was providing the power to mine them.

Dogecoin has fallen victim to mining hacks in the past.

These hacks may be a result of the coin’s lesser value compared to its cryptocurrency counterparts like bitcoin. The lesser value makes the coin a more attractive target for mining hacks as more coins can be acquired over time before being noticed.

SecureWorks is continuing to look into the hack, but is yet to determine whether or not the act was committed by an individual user or multiple partners.

Either way, the incident sheds light on the importance of companies recognizing their capability to power such mining operations. Oversight relating to who and when users are accessing their servers is necessary for companies like Synology to consider as we move into a cryptocurrency friendly world.