Cryptocurrencies have become a global phenomenon as everyday new cryptocurrencies are being emerged, old cryptocurrencies got downfall and some rises and there are now more than one thousand cryptocurrencies on the Internet.
The following article presents the top 5 hacks on cryptocurrencies that shook down the crypto-world in the history:
1. The Mt.Gox Hack
Mt.Gox was the biggest bitcoin exchange on the world located in Tokyo handling about 70% of the bitcoin exchanges. It got hacked in year 2014 due to lack of Version Control Software, improper management. $473 million worth bitcoin was robbed when hot wallet private keys of Mt. Gox were stolen from a wallet.dat file.
2. The DAO Hack
The DAO Hack was a unique hack and biggest attack of Ethereum. The hacker stole $31 million of Ether. This hack has an interesting story. The hacker introduced a exploit a loophole in Ethereum network and gained access to wallet. The hacker started emptying the wallet but once the hack was started it was known to the organization instantly and the white hat hackers team of Ethereum analysed the attack and was able to recover the stolen money.
3. The Bitfinex Hack
Bitfinex was Hongkong based bitcoin exchange platform that got hacked on August 2016. 120000 bitcoins worth $72 million at that time was stolen. Due to the hack bitcoin price falls by 20% to $480 during that time. The hack was due to Bitfinex account structuring mechanism and its bitcoin wallet provider BitGo.
4. Steemit Hack
Steem was attacked on July 2016 and 260 steemit accounts were hacked. $85000 steem dollars and steem were robbed from hacked user's wallet in steemit.com.
5. Bitstamp Hack
Bitstamp is Slovenia based bitcoin exchange platform. It got hacked on January 2015 and following the attack, Bitstamp stopped providing the services. About $5 million worth of bitcoin was stolen from one of the wallet and later after analysis and research it was found that system administrator Luka Kodric was a victim of a phishing scam when he downloaded a file that he believed had been sent by a representative for an organization that was seeking his membership.