Cyber Security Magazine
Even as the crypto industry has gained traction, many digital currency exchanges are still vulnerable to attacks by cybercriminals. KuCoin, currency exchange for cryptocurrencies in Singapore, has released a security incident that led to the unauthorized transfer of about $150 million into digital assets.
In a notice released last week, KuCoin informed its customers that it had detected withdrawals of suspiciously large amounts as of September 26.
In response to the incident, KuCoin Global CEO Johnny Lyu announced on a live broadcast that some of the amounts in Bitcoin, ERC-20 and other tokens in KuCoin’s online accounts were transferred from the foreign exchange, representing some of the total assets.
“The assets in offline accounts are secure, and the online accounts have been re-released,” the company’s director said.
However, the losses are far from insignificant. According to an updated announcement, the attackers stole about $150 million in various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Stellar Lumens, Tron and Tether. The company froze online accounts and launched a number of new accounts. KuCoin is also working with other currency exchange agencies to prevent attackers from withdrawing stolen funds.
Lyu tells customers not to worry, as any user funds affected by the incident will be fully covered by KuCoin’s insurance fund.
“To ensure the security of users’ assets, we will conduct a detailed security analysis. The deposit and withdrawal service will be suspended during this period. It will be gradually restored after security is secured. We will keep you updated on the evolution of the situation,” the company said.
KuCoin has published a list of suspicious accounts, urging customers to add them to the list of blocked accounts. The company is still trying to identify vulnerabilities exploited by the attackers. Lyu also stated that the company would “definitely” upgrade its account risk management system.
According to the Kucoin exchange CEO Johnny Lyu, the trading platform has recovered $204 million in crypto assets since October 1. The exchange executive says the hacking suspects have been “found” and the “police are officially involved” in order to take action.
Two weeks ago, the currency exchange house for cryptocurrencies Etherbase lost $5.4 million overnight to hackers. Eterbase managed to track criminals’ accounts to numerous rival currency exchange offices, including Binance, Huobi and HitBTC. As in the case of KuCoin, the company assured its customers that it had the necessary funds to cover the losses.
