Mark Karpeles' computer contained malware that stole Bitcoins from Mt Gox users

By VCPOST Staff Reporter

Mar 15, 2014 08:57 AM EDT

The data from Mt Gox that was reportedly stolen from the computer owned by Mt Gox Chief Operating Officer (CEO) Mark Karpeles contained Trojan that stole Bitcoins, according to security researchers from Securelist. The malware covered itself up as an app for Mt Gox transactions, wrote TechCrunch.

Sergey Lozhkin of Kasperky explained the malware's mechanism: "The malware creates and executes the TibanneSocket.exe binary and searches for the files bitcoin.conf and wallet.dat - the latter is a critical data file for a Bitcoin crypto-currency user: if it is kept unencrypted and is stolen, cybercriminals will gain access to all Bitcoins the user has in his possession for that specific account."

In a separate report from Readwrite, hackers allegedly got hold of Karpeles' Reddit account to publish angry letters about the Mt Gox CEO's participation in the bitcoin heist.

The hackers included an Excel file containing the balances of Mt Gox. The hackers hoped the file could help prove that Karpeles had lied about the users' money being stolen, Readwrite reported.

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