If you are a registered member of the Bitcoin Talk forum, you might need to change your password again.
Forum admins announced a man-in-the-middle attack had taken place between December 1 at 06:00 UTC and December 2 at 20:00 UTC, and passwords may have been capture. If you logged on at any point during that stretch, it would be a good idea to change your password immediately.
Users who were logged in through the “remember me” feature are in the clear, though.
Hacks in the Bitcoin space are becoming more and more common as the currency’s value continues to rise. CoinMKT CEO Travis Skweres, whose exchange has seen its own share of attacks, said that security will have to be a constant focus in the Bitcoin economy.
“Unfortunately, all of the attributes that make Bitcoin great — over the web, no chargebacks, easy to send — also make it a huge target for hackers,” he said.
The Bitcoin Talk forum has also seen DDoS attacks. There are no Bitcoin wallets or exchanges on the site, just information.
Bitstamp, one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges, fought off a DDoS attack in mid-November. The site suffered some downtime, but that was actually an issue with the banking software and not the hack.
For Bitcoin users, the key going forward will be vigilance and good security measures. This includes, at minimum, offline wallets and never duplicating passwords.
Skweres said attacks and theft will unfortunately be common stories until “security and user habits catch up with the current state of the web.”