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South Korea Exchange Bithumb Hacked For ‘Tens Of Millions’ Of Won
Wilma Woo | Jul 04, 2017 | 14:00
South Korea’s biggest volume exchange Bithumb has lost “tens of millions of won” after hackers infiltrated company systems.
Bithumb Hack: Confusion Reigns Stories Emerge
According to local news media reports, the attack occurred last week after hackers “employee PCs were hacked.”
It is unknown how much money was stolen in total, with some sources reporting “billions” of won missing.
The exchange appears to be running as normal, with reports surfacing from frustrated customers who have allegedly not received any feedback regarding the incident.
“We have had our accounts hacked and our mobile phone numbers leaked, and funds have been withdrawn,” unidentified victims quoted by Kyunghyang Shinmun said.
The statements contrast with the official line given by Bithumb, a spokesman telling the publication that “personal information such as mobile phone numbers and email addresses of some users amounting to 3% of the total client base” had fallen into the wrong hands.
‘$86’ Payouts As ‘Investigation’ Underway
The occurrence is a blow for the nascent South Korean Bitcoin scene, which has seen a huge surge in popularity in 2017 with the result that Bitcoin regularly traded well above average prices elsewhere.
Prior to the hack, Bithumb had appeared to be experiencing technical problems in the form of a DDOS attack which temporarily took the exchange offline.
Bithumb, popular korean exchange suffered a DDOS attack and are struggling to get back online.#eth #ltc #xrp #etc #btc #빗썸 #bithumb
— Dave (@Idavhold) June 25, 2017
While users further reported customer service representatives were not picking up the phone, Bithumb said on its website it was preparing a fixed sum of 100,000 won ($86.85) to those whose details had been leaked.
Nonetheless, the local press states, legal proceedings are already underway, the exchange confirming it had contacted the relevant authorities.
“We immediately contacted the KISA (Korean Internet & Security Agency) and we are in the process of conducting an investigation,” it continued to Kyunghyang Shinmun, adding funds were stored “safely in accordance with due diligence.”
The Strained Face Of Overstretched Crypto Resources
Bithumb’s handling of the situation is comparable to that of Coinbase in recent weeks as it struggled with a plethora of technical issues of its own.
While no criminal event occurred, huge stress on the wallet provider along with its sister exchange GDAX left customers complaining of missing transactions, lost funds and lack of response from customer services, problems which continue.
Last week also saw EthereumClassicWallet lose a reported $300,000 worth of Ethereum Classic after a hacker convinced the service’s domain host to hand over password data via telephone.
What do you think about Bithumb’s hack? Were you affected? Let us know in the comments below!
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