Cryptocurrency exchange platform BigONE has been hit by hackers, causing it to lose $27 million. The company disclosed the details of the attack, saying that only its hot wallet was targeted and that private keys remain secure. Furthermore, it claimed that the attack vector has already been identified and secured, meaning it does not expect to lose any more crypto to attackers. Despite that, it has suspended deposit and trading functions while recovering its systems, and withdrawals will resume “after additional security reinforcement.”
This isn’t the first nor the largest crypto heist this year, with ByBit losing $1.5 billion to alleged North Korean hackers, and Coinbase falling victim to an inside job costing it $400 million. However, $27 million is still quite a large sum, and the institution is now using its internal security reserves to replenish the BTC, ETH, USDT, SOL, and XIN holdings of its users. It’s also borrowing other affected tokens from external sources, ensuring its liquidity once BigONE resumes normal operations.
At the moment, the trading platform is coordinating with SlowMist, a blockchain security firm, to trace the hack, monitor fund movements, and hopefully, recover the stolen funds. Tracing cryptocurrency is quite easy, especially given the public nature of its ledgers. However, its inherent anonymity is what makes it difficult to determine the actual person behind a specific wallet. It’s also going to be difficult to recover the stolen cryptocurrency, unless the hackers make the mistake of putting it on a platform that cooperates with the authorities.
Latest Videos FromTom's Hardware
Despite that, stolen crypto can be recovered. For example, the U.S. DOJ recovered $2.3 million of Bitcoin that Colonial Pipeline paid as ransom when it was attacked in 2021. Several firms, like Chainalysis, TRM Labs, and CryoGuards, also specialize in recovering crypto, allowing victims to recoup their lost assets for a fee.
According to Mitrade, BigONE holds more than $91 million in crypto assets. The company does not disclose its total assets under management, but if that report is true, then the $27 million heist could be a major issue for the company. Nevertheless, BigONE says that it will absorb all the losses and that none of its users will be affected. Furthermore, it will communicate the progress of its investigation and results with full transparency and will deliver regular updates to its users.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
