This time Coincheck, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange has been hacked and lost $534 million in NEM tokens. The largest cryptocurrency exchange named Coincheck has suffered a data breach in which unknown hackers have stolen 58 billion Yen of the virtual currency – $534 – 429 million euros; from its digital wallets.
According to local media, “the Tokyo based exchange has confirmed that it has suffered what appears to be the biggest hack in the history of cryptocurrency business. In a press conference held earlier today, Coincheck’s president Koichi Wada apologized to the customers and said that the law enforcement authorities are already investigating the incident“.
“Currently, credit card, Pay Easy, and convenience store payments are suspended. We sincerely apologize for these inconveniences and will continue to do our best to be back to normal operations as soon as possible,” said Coincheck’s blog post.
Firstly, Coincheck suspended the trade for NEM tokens. Later, on Friday evening, the company conducted a press conference and announced that it has suspended the trade for almost every cryptocurrency after the incident.
All withdrawals from the platform are currently restricted, including JPY. Thank you for your understanding. We are doing our utmost to resume normal operations as soon as possible. https://t.co/4OCB0LPDuz
— Coincheck (@coincheck_en) January 26, 2018
According to the president of blockchain company NEM.io Lon Wong “This is the biggest theft in the history of the world.” “It’s unfortunate that CoinCheck got hacked. But we are doing everything we can to help,” Wong said.
9th Breach Against A Cryptocurrency Platform In Last 6 Months
1: July 4th, 2017: Bithumb hacked and 1.2 billion South Korean Won stolen.
2: July 17th, 2017: CoinDash hacked and $7 million in Ethereum stolen.
3: July 24th, 2017: Veritaseum hacked and $8.4 million in Ethereum stolen.
4: July 20, 2017: Parity Technologies hacked and $32 Million in Ethereum stolen.
5: August 22nd, 2017, Enigma marketplace hacked and $500,000 in Ethereum stolen.
6: November 19th, Tether hacked and $30 million worth of tokens stolen.
7: December 7, 2017: NiceHash hacked and $70 million stolen.
8: December 21, 2017: EtherDelta hacked and $266,789 in Ethereum stolen.
9. January 26, 2018: Coincheck and $534 Million stolen.
Pedro Tavares is a professional in the field of information security working as an Ethical Hacker/Pentester, Malware Researcher and also a Security Evangelist. He is also a founding member at CSIRT.UBI and Editor-in-Chief of the security computer blog seguranca-informatica.pt.
In recent years he has invested in the field of information security, exploring and analyzing a wide range of topics, such as pentesting (Kali Linux), malware, exploitation, hacking, IoT and security in Active Directory networks. He is also Freelance Writer (Infosec. Resources Institute and Cyber Defense Magazine) and developer of the 0xSI_f33d – a feed that compiles phishing and malware campaigns targeting Portuguese citizens.
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