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Former Ripple CTO Warns About ‘One of the Worst Security Flaws’ He Has Ever Seen

Former Ripple chief technology officer, David Schwartz, issued a strong public warning this week regarding a new vulnerability in Windows BitLocker. He described this issue as one of the most serious security gaps he has encountered in recent years.

The statement came alongside a separate warning about a wave of scams targeting XRP Ledger users, indicating increasing pressure on consumer device security and on-chain trust.

Schwartz Issues Strong Warning About BitLocker Security Flaw

Schwartz explained that this exploit allows attackers to bypass Microsoft’s full disk encryption using a simple USB-based method. The lack of authentication requests has led many to speculate that this mechanism is more like a backdoor than a typical bug, as the reported access route is very easy to perform without advanced technical skills.

This vulnerability is critical for anyone storing sensitive data on Windows devices, including private keys, recovery phrases, or work documents. Schwartz’s previous comments on security design and protocol-level incentives have garnered significant industry attention, making his assessment of the BitLocker issue highly meaningful.

This disclosure further heightens concerns about software-level attacks beginning to spread into the crypto ecosystem, where exposure of private keys could lead to immediate, irreversible losses for retail holders relying on disk encryption to protect their cold storage backups.

Ripple CTO Reminds Again About Surge in XRPL Scams

In a separate post, Schwartz highlighted a sharp increase in scam reports targeting XRPL users. The most common patterns involve fake airdrops and impersonator accounts. Scammers typically mimic verified profiles to lure holders into connecting their wallets to draining contracts.

This trend is similar to the rise in scam cases that regulators have warned about in recent months. For XRP holders, the risk is even greater due to the pseudonymous nature of the ledger and the lack of a recovery pathway once funds are transferred.

Schwartz, who has a high public profile within the XRP ecosystem, has widely circulated his warning, advising users to ignore random airdrop messages and always verify independently before connecting their wallets to any service.

AI-Based Exploits Increasing Security Concerns

This warning coincided with Google’s announcement that they successfully prevented the spread of AI-created zero-day exploits before they could proliferate. The Python-based attack reportedly bypassed two-factor authentication on one of the popular open-source admin tools.

AI-based defense systems like Big Sleep and CodeMender are also beginning to be used in response to this threat. It remains an open question whether endpoint encryption and consumer authentication can keep pace with evolving attack methods.