Artificial intelligence (AI) bots have become one of the most popular ways to trade cryptocurrencies. However, cybersecurity analysts have uncovered one designed to steal cryptoprivate keys.
In an April 20 post on social media platform X, pseudonymous security researcher dm557 flagged the nefarious project on GitHub.
How This AI Bot Steals Crypto
According to dm557’s findings, the ai bot includes a “checkrug.py” file containing a binary encrypted script that decrypts data and transmits private keys. In crypto, private keys serve as the digital signatures for transactions. If these keys fall into the wrong hands, it can lead to substantial losses.
Evilcos, the pseudonymous founder of SlowMist, a prominent blockchain security firm, corroborated these findings and explained how the trading bot operated. He noted that the bot has a backdoor code that executes to steal the private keys of its users.
Due to the cryptocurrency market’s heightened volatility and complexity, AI bots have emerged as indispensable tools for traders. Experts argue that the rapid and substantial fluctuations in the market pose challenges to manual trading strategies. Consequently, traders are turning to AI-powered trading bots for their ability to swiftly analyze market data and execute trades.
