A security analyst in Pinellas Park, Florida (about a 15-minute drive from our office in downtown St. Petersburg) was arrested for stealing well over half a million dollars in cryptocurrency from a client. But unlike many other crypto theft cases, this incident isn’t the result of a complex cyber attack or even a phishing scam. The way this cybercriminal carried out this theft is far simpler to explain and even easier to prevent… Let’s hash it out. Aaron Motta, the 27-year-old owner of Motta Management and Mitigation Services (according to his LinkedIn profile), is accused of stealing $575,910.61 in cryptocurrency from a client’s Trezor crypto hardware wallet. FOX 13 reports the victim invited Motta into their home to install a security system. Once there, Motta found the victim’s hardware storage device, which stores cryptocurrency offline, and stole it. Of course, simply finding the hardware wasn’t the only contributing factor here; what makes matters worse for the victim is that they’d decided to store their account passwords in the home insecurely as well. In this case, the Tampa Bay Times reports that Motta used the password to gain access to the elderly victim’s cryptocurrency on the stolen device. He then transferred the digital currency to multiple wallets he controlled.
Full story : A $600,000 Reminder to Not Save Your Passwords on Post-It Notes.
