A vulnerability has been discovered in one of the most popular block exploring websites for the Ethereum network – Etherscan. While the hack was seemingly harmless and couldn’t do any damage, it could have massive repercussions for the entire market.

Simple But Effective

The hack itself wasn’t particularly spectacular – in fact, all the hacker did was add a pop-up to the website which displayed “1337.” This is a fairly well-known and rather old sign that one has been hacked.

Users of the website were quick to take the matter to Twitter in order to warn others of the attack. Reportedly, the attack was fairly simple – the hacker got the pop up to appear by leaving a comment on the website. Surely enough, Etherscan quickly turned off the comments and addressed the issue.

No money has been compromised, and the attack didn’t cause any serious damage whatsoever.

What Could Have Happened?

Usually, hacks in the field of cryptocurrency are immediately associated with massive amounts of lost money. That was the case with the hacked Bithumb cryptocurrency exchange earlier this year when $32 million was stolen. Another attack in 2017 resulted in over 3,800 BTC being lost. But that couldn’t have happened with Etherscan for the simple reason that the website doesn’t provide the option to hold any cryptocurrencies.

Nevertheless, the hacker could have caused much bigger issues had he taken a different approach. According to security researcher Scott Helme, the hack could have caused serious turmoil. Helme notes:

They could alter the prices shown on graphs, maybe cause a buy/sell. […] I’m sure that tampering with the values could impact people.

What do you think of the recent Etherscan hack? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!

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