The South Korean Bitcoin exchange Youbit, previously known as Yapizon has quit its operation and filed for bankruptcy due to two cyber attacks in last eight months. The first data breach to impacted Youbit took place on April 22nd, 2017 in which hackers stole 3816.2028 Bitcoin (US$5 million at that time) which was 37% of user funds.
In their latest announcement, the Bitcoin exchange said on December 19th that despite taking security measures the company has suffered another data breach in which 17% of total assets have been stolen. However, the total value of stolen assets was not mentioned.
The company further stated that hackers could not steal remaining coins since they were kept in the cold wallet. The difference in hot and cold wallets is that hot wallets are connected to the internet while cold wallets are not.
“Very sorry to inform you again with the sad news,” said Youbit’s statement. “All coins and cash withdrawals and withdrawals will be suspended at 12:00 pm on December 19, 2017.”
At the time of publishing this article, South Korea’s Internet and Security Agency (Kisa) was conducting investigations to establish who the hackers are and how did the get into the company’s servers and stole funds without triggering any warning. The previous breach was blamed on North Korean backed hackers.
There has been a rapid increase in cyber attacks against South Korea cryptocurrency exchanges, for instance; in July this year world’s fourth largest Bitcoin exchange Bithumb suffered a cyber attack in which Billions in S.Korean Won were stolen.
The authorities at that time also blamed North Korea for Bithumb hack. Moreover, according to a recent research, since Bitcoin’s price has rapidly increased, the North Korean state-sponsored hacking group Lazarus has been conducting malware attacks against Bitcoin exchanges to steal funds.
The authorities at that time also blamed North Korea for Bithumb hack. Moreover, according to a recent research, North Korean state-sponsored hacking group Lazarus is conducting malware attacks against Bitcoin exchanges to steal funds.
Bitcoin’s price is setting new records every day that is prompting hackers to target vulnerable cryptocurrency infrastructure and make as much money as possible within a little time. On December 2nd, cryptocurrency mining market NiceHash suffered a hack attack in which more than $ 70 million was stolen.
In case you are looking to store cryptocurrency safely; here is a list of 5 safest Bitcoin wallets.