According to local media reports and confirmed in an official blog post, an unidentified hacker(s) managed to steal an unknown (or probably undisclosed) amount of cryptocurrency from Bithumb.
It is the world’s fourth largest cryptocurrency exchange. Bitcoin and Ethereum are main currencies found on the platform.
The worst affected are people based in South Korea which makes a huge chunk of Bithumb’s userbase. Bithumb has announced reimbursement of 100,000 won ($897) worth of cryptocurrency to all the users affected till July 5. Surprisingly, some users have even reported about losing as high as 10 million won ($8700) worth of cryptocurrency.
According to the reports, the attack happened on June 29 (22:00 local time), and the hacker managed to compromise the personal computer of a Bithumb employee and stole personal details of 31,800 members, around three percent of the user base. It is being said that the stolen data didn’t contain the passwords of any of the users, but how the hacker managed to drain the currency is still a mystery.
The issue came to light when the affected users complained about their loss on social media, starting Thursday last week.
In an official statement made on Monday, Bithumb has said that it would reimburse all the lost money to users when they confirm the approximate damages.