Cryptocurrency hackers managed to hack the bitcoin wallet of an entire country

The hacker group CiberIntelligenciaSV has published part of the source code of the Chivo cryptomachines in El Salvador.

on April 23, the hacker group CiberInteligenciaSV wrote on BreachForums: «This time we offer you the code that is inside the Chivo cryptomat in El Salvador; remember that this is a government wallet and, as you know, we do not sell information, but publish it for free for you.»

Earlier this month, CiberInteligenciaSV leaked a database of more than 5 million users of El Salvador’s national cryptocurrency wallet. The information includes surnames, names, and email addresses. This is almost the entire adult population of the country.

The local cybersecurity project VenariX first warned about the potential leak. The day before the incident, experts wrote that hackers from CiberInteligenciaSV were preparing. In the message, they referred to the attackers' Telegram channel, in which they announced plans to leak the Chivo source code.

El Salvador is the first country in the world to accept bitcoin as a legal tender. The government is actively promoting Chivo as the official cryptocurrency wallet for citizens. The platform allows buying and selling the main cryptocurrency, as well as storing and withdrawing tokens in special cryptomats.

However, the state crypto wallet is not the most successful development of the El Salvadoran authorities. Since the launch of the product, users have been complaining about numerous errors and technical failures. Despite the fact that the first news about the leak of the Chivo user database appeared almost a month ago, the authorities have not yet commented on the incident or resolved the security issues of the crypto wallet.