Bitcoin ATM maker to refund customers affected by zero-day hack

by · March 27, 2023

Bitcoin ATM maker General Bytes says it is refunding its cloud-hosted customers who lost money in a “security incident” in March that accessed customers’ hot wallets.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the ATM maker issued a statement about a security incident on March 17 and March 18, which involved a hacker remotely uploading a Java application to its terminals and gaining access to sensitive information, such as passwords, private keys and funds from hot wallets.

In a recent statement to Cointelegraph, the ATM maker said it has since moved quickly to “resolve the situation” and has made the decision to refund its “cloud-hosted customers who have lost money.”

“We have taken immediate steps to prevent further unauthorized access to our systems and are working tirelessly to protect our customers,” General Bytes said in a statement.

It was understood that the hack led to at least 56 BTC, worth over $1.5 million at current prices, and 21.82 ETH, $37,000 at current prices, being deposited into wallets linked to the hacker.

According to General Bytes, it has thoroughly assessed the damage from the hack and has “worked tirelessly” to improve security measures and prevent similar incidents from happening again.

General Bytes asked affected customers to implement new security measures after the hack. Source: General Bytes

Along with the refund for affected customers, the ATM maker has also said that it is encouraging all customers to migrate to a self-managed server installation, where they can effectively secure the server platform using VPN.

“We are investing heavily in additional human resources to help our customers migrate their existing infrastructure to a self-hosted server installation.”

According to General Bytes, the hack did not affect most ATM operators using self-hosted server installations, as these customers use VPN technology to protect their infrastructure.

Related: More than 280 blockchains at risk of zero-day exploits, security firm warns

The ATM maker first warned customers about the hacker in an update bulletin from March 18. As a result of the security breach, General Btyes shut down its cloud services.

“General Bytes takes the security of our customers’ funds and data very seriously. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused, and remain committed to serving our customers with integrity and professionalism.”

The company is based in Prague and, according to its website, has sold over 15,000 Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs to buyers in over 149 countries worldwide.