Bithumb, one of the biggest bitcoin and ether exchange in South Korea was lately hacked. It’s the fourth biggest bitcoin exchange platform (share 75.7% of the South Korean bitcoin market volume) in the world after U.S, China, and Japan and is the biggest exchange platform for the ether market globally.
Billions of won have been lost with a number of user accounts hacked with information such as users’ phone numbers, email addresses, etc.
“Hackers succeeded in grabbing the personal information of 31,800 Bithumb website users, including their names, mobile phone numbers and email addresses. The exchange claims that this number represents approximately three percent of customers.”
The hack was detected by Bithumb on June 29 and has been reported to the authorities. More than 100 users have since filed a complaint with the National Police Agency’s cybercrime report center.
The hackers were able to do a social engineering attack by calling the users (victims) and saying that they are from Bithumb and suspect a breach has taken place. The hackers then ask the victims for the identification number which is nothing but the one-time password provided to them by the platform.
Once the hackers obtain the passwords of the victims, the hackers can simply access the user’s account and steal funds.