Ledger Flex devices found with spy modules; over $86 million previously stolen

Odaily Planet Daily reports: Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès has publicly confirmed that a Ledger Flex device purchased at Metapod in Singapore Airport was implanted with a spy module. The device was bought this summer by user Ben Yorke and had never been used before being sent for disassembly due to suspicious scratches on its casing. Karpelès’s published disassembly photos and videos reveal an additional circuit board and wiring hidden beneath the device, representing a newer version of the implant capable of stealing users’ recovery phrases by monitoring screen communications. Previously, Ledger devices purchased through the Malaysian distributor CryptoBilis were found to be similarly compromised, resulting in over $86 million in stolen assets. Similar tampering has also been discovered in devices purchased from official European distributors and in the Philippines, with the implants evolving from early hand-soldered components to more covert mass-produced circuit boards.