As the holiday season begins, the cybercriminals are working overtime to execute more dangerous cyberattacks. One such incident has recently struck the cryptocurrency exchange Livecoin as they hacked its servers and backend infrastructure.
Livecoin Cryptocurrency Exchange Hacked
Reportedly, the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Livecoin has suffered a devastating attack as the attackers hacked its servers.
Things started troubling users as they suddenly faced issues during withdrawals. Some users even expressed their concerns about a possible exit scam.
@livecoin_net Did it go into maintenance at the time of the bitcoin increase? Resolve that before I lose money!
— BaroneMelo (@melo_barone) December 24, 2020
is livecoin scam ?>>?… my 384 BTC deposit not credited to me ! pic.twitter.com/Okk4JdICNX
— CryptoFinEx (@CryptotradExp) December 24, 2020
exit scam ? hacked? what is going on @livecoin_net ?
— Whale's Friend ?⚡? (@ChrisNelsonCH) December 24, 2020
Also, the sudden spike in exchange rates created doubts about some unusual things happening to Live coin.
WTF IS GOING ON IN RUSSIA?#Bitcoin #BTC pic.twitter.com/YzgDVegvIk
— JT Jeremy (Gator Bitcoin) (@jtjeremybtc) December 24, 2020
$BTC just reached 320k on it – whatever is going on, I don't recommend trying to make $ on this, very likely you will get your funds stuck pic.twitter.com/vzypVZqbab
— #DYORangutang (@cryptorangutang) December 24, 2020
exit scam ? hacked? what is going on @livecoin_net ?
— Whale's Friend ?⚡? (@ChrisNelsonCH) December 24, 2020
And soon, people realized that the exchange has suffered a cyber attack.
#Livecoin exchange is probably hacked or broken, or both. All major cryptocurrency withdrawals are frozen including $ETT. We are trying to figure out the issue, will keep you updated.
— EncryptoTel (@encryptotel) December 24, 2020
@livecoin_net is transmitting suspicious price data for $xem. We've suspended their data feed and removed their trade data from https://t.co/dI57zyE6Av.
— fiatleak (@fiatleak) December 24, 2020
An Exchange named #Livecoin @livecoin_net is being compromised, $BTC is traded here more than USD 330000, and $XRP is being traded @ 30 Dollar
— Crypto Sikander (@sikanderrander) December 24, 2020
Shortly after the chaos made it to the news, Livecoin uploaded a warning on their website. They asked all users to stop all kinds of transactions on the platform using their API.
As revealed, some attackers hacked all the servers and backend infrastructure of Livecoin cryptocurrency exchange. Perhaps, that’s how they were able to meddle with exchange rates to gain profits.
Livecoin called it a “carefully planned attack” leaving them with some control on the frontend only. That’s how they managed to put up the alert on their website.
Image: Latest Hacking News
The attack seemingly happened between December 23 and 24, 2020.
However, even at the time of writing this article, their website remained down. LHN even checked the overall site functioning, and most of the key options (except the ‘Login’ button) were found non-functional. Clicking on any of them would display the same alert as shown in the picture above.
What Next?
For now, it’s difficult to say what next would we hear since Livecoin has shared no further updates.
It’s unclear if the exchange had really suffered a cyber attack and whether they would be able to recover from it. Their social media accounts have also remained quiet on this crypto exchange hack. So, an exit scam is also likely at this time.
Although, Livecoin isn’t a new crypto exchange. It started off in 2014 and had achieved a ranking of 173 among all crypto exchanges on the internet.
