Cryptocurrency Theft: Bithumb, Largest South Korean Crypto Exchanger Loses Bitcoin To Hackers

Cyber attacks and security breach seem to be a major concern trailing the world of technology. We are yet to recover from the ransomware attack where the hackers requested for bitcoin as their ransom; here is another fresh bitcoin theft. Digital currencies seem to be the gold mine of our time as bitcoin continues to gain more value.

The most recent is the largest ill luck of Bithumb, South Korean Crypto exchanger who has lost a fortune to hackers. Motherboard reports Bithumb to be the fourth largest crypto dealer in terms of volume and had jumped to first position on the Wednesday before the theft. The missing bitcoin may worth about $65 million.  A more pressing concern is the fact that it was employees’ computers were hacked as Bithumb reported:

“The employee PC, not the lead server was hacked. Personal information such as mobile phone numbers and email addresses of some users were leaked. However some customers were found to have stolen from because of the disposable password used in electronic financial transaction”

The news on the theft was immediately reported to the authority and Yonhap news agency reports that  investigations are underway to ascertain the mastermind behind the theft and  determine the state of the stolen bitcoin. Over 30,000 users had their data leaked. Although they did not contain their passwords, there are reports of stolen funds. A local user claimed to have lost $8700 of bitcoin. At the time of the theft,1 bitcoin was valued at $2545.

Crypto theft appears to be a prevalent issue in South Korea as there was a similar occurrence in April this year when a smaller cryptocurrency exchanger lost millions of dollars to hackers. In retrospect, security experts have warned against entrusting funds to a third party company.

As cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin and etherium continue to soar in value, criminals will continue to eye businesses that deal in sizeable cryptocurrencies. Yet, there is no assured security.