Cryptocurrency-related hacks continue to increase in number all around the world. A large number of these attacks occurred in South Korea, as confirmed in a recent report by the South Korean National Police Agency. According to the agency, numerous hacking episodes of both crypto exchanges and wallets have led to around 165 hacks in the last three years.
The report claims that seven crypto exchanges were victimized by hacking groups. Hackers also performed 158 wallet hacks too. 91 of the reported hacks occurred in 2018 alone. The police concluded its announcement with a statement that only six arrests were made during this time.
This article was first published on Oct 8, 2018.
In an attempt to determine just how big a problem crypto hacking has become, the South Korean National Police decided to make a report of all the recent hacking episodes. The report includes all hacking cases that were made within the nation since 2016.
The report is called “Status and Proportions of Hacking Harm of Virtual Money Exchanges over the Most recent Three Years”. Upon its completion, it was sent to the country’s government, as revealed by lawmaker Cho Won-jin. The local news source released its own report soon after that, claiming that the data gathered confirms around 165 hacking attacks since 2016. Seven of the reported attacks were made against crypto exchanges, while the rest concern crypto wallets. According to estimates around 112 billion KRW, worth $99 million was stolen during exchange hacks.
During their investigations, the South Korean police also found that the country’s government has also been investigating crypto exchanges, with a focus on their security. Ten exchanges operating in South Korea were investigated last year, between September and December. Additionally, 21 of them were examined in 2018. The investigations have uncovered numerous security issues. However, the troubling problem is that exchanges whose security was supposedly confirmed as satisfactory by government assessment still got hacked.
This includes three exchanges in particular — Yobit, Coinrail, and Bithumb. All three of these exchanges were successfully hacked after being investigated by the government. This has led many to question the quality of governmental assessments.