Overview of the largest hacker hacks in cryptocurrency space

Every year, the number of cases of hacker attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges only continues to grow. During June, at least two exchanges (Coinrail and Bithumb) were compromised - huge losses. But let's go back in time and remember the biggest hacks in the crypto space.

Bitfloor

In September 2012, hackers managed to crack the servers of the New York BitFloor cryptogram. As a result, the exchange lost $ 250 000 in Bitcoins, after which in the spring of 2013, the company stopped servicing clients and conducting trading operations on the platform.

Mt.Gox

In February, 2014 was hacked at that time by the largest cryptographic counterpart Mt.Gox. The exchange suffered losses in the amount of $ 480 million and then declared itself bankrupt. Practically every member of the crypto community knows about this case, since so far interesting details have surfaced on the Internet regarding the unfortunate incident.

Bitstamp

Less than a year later, in January of 2015, social engineering hackers gained access to the Bitstamp accounts, taking with them $ 5 million.

Despite this, the exchange continued its work and was able to regain the trust of the cryptocurrency community.

Gatecoin

Could not avoid hacking and Hong Kong exchange Gatecoin. 14 may CEO of the exchange published a message on the detection of the fact of unauthorized access attempts through a vulnerability in the platform code. As a result, the exchange suffered losses of $ 2 million or 15% of all Gatecoin funds.

The dao

Another well-known example of a large-scale attack is The DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) hack. In June 2016, an amount of $50 million in ETH cryptocurrency was withdrawn from the platform's accounts. The hacker exploited a vulnerability in the splitDAO option, which allowed him to withdraw funds from the project platform within just a few hours.

Bitfinex

In August, 2016 of the year, funds worth about $ 70 million in BTC were withdrawn from Bitfinex Cryptocurrency Exchange. Hacking was limited to bitcoin wallets. To date, Bitfinex has fully repaid its debt obligations to customers who have suffered damage during hacking.

Bithumb

During a cyber attack on the Bithumb crypto-exchange, implemented in 2017, hackers stole the personal data of 32000 users, thereby gaining access to the accounts of some of them. And although the exchange agreed with the hacking fact, it denied the possibility of intruders access to the funds. At the same time, representatives have repeatedly received statements from the affected users, followed by the filing of a class action lawsuit against the exchange.

Now, on June 20 of 2018 of the year, hackers managed to get much deeper and empty the stock exchange funds in the amount equivalent to $ 30 to millions.

Parity wallet

Vulnerability in Ethereum Wallet Parity in July 2017 of the year helped hackers steal $ 30 million. The victims were users who own multi-signature wallets. In November 2017, the situation with the bug repeated. Only this time the funds were not stolen, but frozen. The amount was over $ 280 million.

Youbit

In December, 2017, the Youbit South Korean stock exchange, began bankruptcy proceedings. During 2017, the exchange twice (for the first time in April) was the victim of hackers, and this was what provoked such a move. As reported, 17% of all funds of the trading platform were stolen during the cyber attack.

Coincheck

At the beginning of 2018, the entire cryptocurrency community was discussing the news of the largest hack in the history of the cryptocurrency business. The amount of theft was $ 530 million. The cyber attack was a success because of the negligence of the Coincheck management, as the latter kept the funds in a hot wallet. According to Coincheck representatives, it was difficult for them to manage a cold wallet.

Some time later, the stock exchange was sold to the online broker Monex Group, under whose leadership the stock exchange security system was improved and submitted to the Financial Services Agency of Japan.

Conclusions

Unfortunately, cryptocurrency exchange hacks are not uncommon. Every year their number continues to increase, and with them the amount of damage caused by cyberattacks. Therefore, keeping funds on the accounts of trading platforms is not the best option that guarantees the safety of funds. Be vigilant and diversify your risks.

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