SEAL team deploys to thwart DeFi domain exploit

Michael Bacina, Steven Pettigrove & Jake Huang of the Piper Alderman Blockchain Group bring you the latest legal, regulatory and project updates in Blockchain and Digital Law.

Last week, an unknown threat actor exploited an alleged vulnerability in Squarespace to take over accounts which controlled domains that had been recently migrated as part of the Squarespace acquisition of Google Domains. The exploit affected a number of DeFi protocols, including Compound.Finance a leading decentralised money market and lending protocol on Ethereum.

The forced migration of Google Domains appears to have allowed the threat actor to gain access to Squarespace accounts of over a hundred front-end web domains for crypto protocols. The threat actor was able to redirect users to phishing sites, intercept emails, and hijack control of Google Workspace (formerly GSuite) tenants to read email and add devices. The phishing sites are designed to steal visitors' cryptocurrency (known