A representation of the virtual cryptocurrency Bitcoin is seen in this picture illustration taken October 19, 2021. (REUTERS) Popular cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com acknowledged that at least 483 users on its platform lost $34 million in cryptocurrencies after cybercriminals took advantage of a vulnerability and hacked the exchange on January 17.
Over $19 million worth of Bitcoin , $15 million worth of Ethereum and $66,200 in “other currencies” were stolen. The platform said that its risk monitoring systems “detected unauthorised activity on a small number of user accounts where transactions were being approved without the 2FA authentication control being inputted by the user.”
Crypto.com noted that all affected customers have been fully reimbursed for the losses. While the company has confirmed the security breach, however, details of the exact method of compromise still remain unclear.
“On Monday, 17 January 2022 at approximately 12:46 AM UTC Crypto.com’s risk monitoring systems detected unauthorized activity on a small number of user accounts where transactions were being approved without the 2FA authentication control being inputted by the user,” the post reads. “This triggered an immediate response from multiple teams to assess the impact. All withdrawals on the platform were suspended for the duration of the investigation. Any accounts found to be impacted were fully restored.”
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency exchange notified in a blog post that it is also introducing the worldwide Account Protection Program (APP) that offers additional security for user funds held in the Crypto.com exchange.
In a recent report, research firm Chainalysis revealed that scammers mooched off over $14 billion worth of cryptocurrency from victims in 2021 —up by 79 per cent from $7.8 billion in 2020.
As of early 2022, Chainalysis said illicit address already hold over $10 billion worth of cryptocurrencies, with the majority of this held by wallets associated with cryptocurrency theft.
It should be noted that the rise in decentralized finance (DeFi) which facilitates crypto-denominated lending outside traditional banking, has been a big factor in the increase in stolen funds and scams. The firm says hackers have targeted DeFis the most, in yet another warning for those dabbling in this emerging segment of the crypto industry.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
