Hack Targeting Bitcoin Infrastructure Hits BTCPay Payment Servers

Attacks on Bitcoin-related infrastructure have been increasing, and the latest incident targeted a vulnerability in BTCPay Server, a Bitcoin payment service.

CoinDesk reported on August 8 that unidentified hackers exploited a security flaw in BTCPay Server to gain access to Lightning Network payment servers and steal Bitcoin. The scale of the losses has not yet been determined.

The attack targeted servers using LND, software widely used to operate Lightning Network nodes. The Lightning Network is infrastructure that enables faster and cheaper Bitcoin transfers.

By exploiting the BTCPay vulnerability, the hackers obtained access to Lightning Network servers. They were then able to take control of the servers and steal funds.

BTCPay urged Lightning Network users to update their servers to the latest version immediately.

Cold-wallet company Foundation was also affected. Chief Executive Officer Zach Herbert wrote that a hacker stole funds from the company’s Lightning payment server and shut down its payment channels.