Solana (SOL) co-founder Raj Gokal’s sensitive data was leaked through the compromised Instagram account of the renowned hip-hop group Migos.
The leaked content included photos of Gokal and his wife displaying identification documents, including passports and driver’s licenses.
Hackers Leak Solana Co-Founder’s Private Data
The hackers shared at least seven images with Migos’ 13 million followers. While hacking high-profile accounts to promote meme coins or conduct rug pulls is unfortunately common, this incident stood out due to an apparently failed extortion attempt.
Hackers allegedly demanded 40 Bitcoin (BTC) from Gokal, as evidenced by this caption accompanying one of his images.
“You should’ve paid the 40 BTC,” the caption read.
Meanwhile, another image of Gokal holding up his passport was posted with the caption,
“It was only 40 BTC.. should’ve paid.”
Additionally, some images appeared to contain more private information, such as phone numbers and email addresses. In fact, in one of the posts, hackers exposed Gokal’s personal number and urged followers to spam him. One post also included a photo of an individual identified as “Arvind.”
“There appears to be a guy Arvind who’s had his public SOL balance (or maybe it’s Raj’s?) leaked here,” Andy, co-founder of The Rollup, posted on X.
The posts remained visible for about 90 minutes before Meta removed them and regained control of the account. Besides the leaked images, the hackers altered Migos’ Instagram bio to advertise a meme coin.
“Also, there was just a link posted to a telegram group which is selling unreleased music,” Andy added.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT also weighed in on the incident. He suggested that Gokal’s personal accounts were likely targeted through social engineering tactics over the past week.
“They tried to extort him for funds with the PII obtained. Guess he didn’t pay so they started trolling and posted it after they compromised Migos Instagram account today,” ZachXBT stated.
The hack follows Gokal’s previous warning on X. He notified users that hackers had been trying to break into his various online accounts recently.
“Attackers have been trying to take control of my email, social media, Google, Apple, etc. this past week. If you see anything suspect (token launch, soliciting funds, etc) that means they got through. be careful out there,” Gokal cautioned.
Is Solana Co-Founder’s Data Leak Linked to the Coinbase Breach?
Meanwhile, the nature of the leaked images suggested that they could be Know Your Customer (KYC) verification files. This has sparked concerns about a possible link to the recent Coinbase data breach.
BeInCrypto previously reported that the exchange suffered a data breach affecting approximately 1% of its monthly active users. The incident came to light after hackers demanded a $20 million ransom from Coinbase, which the company refused to pay.
“If they have the KYC for the founders of Solana, then they have the KYC for every single person that ever used their platform and this wasn’t even the KYC information like their address, it was the photos from the self verification you have to do when you send a picture of yourself with your passport this is like 10 times worse than a regular KYC leak,” an analyst wrote.
Despite the speculation, no concrete evidence yet ties Coinbase to Gokal’s data leak. Meta has not issued a public statement regarding the incident. Moreover, Gokal has yet to comment officially on the breach.
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