Entrepreneur Kevin Rose announced that he lost $1.4 million in a phishing attack targeting OpenSea and NFTs, called “Seaport Signature”. Let’s take a look at this type of scam and how to protect yourself from it
A $1.4 million hack
On Wednesday, January 25, celebrity Kevin Rose announced that he was the victim of a phishing attack, resulting in the loss of $1.4 million in non-fungible tokens (NFT).
With over 1.6 million followers on Twitter, he is known for running the Proof podcast, the NFT collection Moonbirds and the venture capital fund True Ventures. He was quick to respond on Twitter:
I was just hacked, stay tuned for details – please avoid buying any squiggles until we get them flagged (just lost 25) + a few other NFTs (an autoglyph) …
– KΞVIN R◎SE (,) (@kevinrose) January 25, 2023
As evidenced by his wallet history on OpenSea, the victim reportedly lost 40 NFTs from various collections such as Autoglyph, Cool Cats or OnChainMonkey. The tokens were sent directly to the attacker’s wallet and offered for sale on the platform.
Thanks to his influence, Kevin Rose was able to get help from the OpenSea team, which froze the NFTs concerned and prevented them from being sold on its marketplace. However, they can still be sold on other platforms such as LooksRare or Rarible.
How to avoid these phishing attacks
Many experts, such as the French company Nefture Security, have looked into the situation and have declared this attack to be a “Seaport Signature”. The context of this signature was not given, but it is clear that the site was malicious and built only to attract victims. Let’s see what this means and how you can try to protect yourself against it.
In concrete terms, this type of attack allows a scammer to make his victim believe that he is signing a classic approval transaction, when in reality he is delivering the right to list an NFT on the OpenSea marketplace. Here is an example of a signature, presented by Nefture in its thread explaining the Kevin Rose case:
SeaPort’s intricate signature structure makes it possible for a scammer to trick an inexperienced user into signing a malicious listing on @opensea through a phishing website.
Signing it leads to your wallet being drained
How it works pic.twitter.com/y1i2dKN4fW
– Nefture Security – Private beta LIVE (@Nefture) January 25, 2023
Seaport signatures are a bit special since they allow you to move your tokens from one wallet to another, based on a previous approval signature you gave to OpenSea. Thus, the scammer gets all the rights to sell or transfer your NFT for free.
To protect yourself, it is therefore important to be extremely vigilant when you see a Seaport approval signature. Make sure you are on an official site and find out what the signature is for. Also, if you are on a mint page, then never sign this type of approval.
Finally, we have presented it many times, but do not hesitate to use the Revoke Cash website to revoke the rights you have granted to OpenSea
