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On Wednesday, South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb announced that it had suffered a cybersecurity breach of its internal mobile system. The intrusion was discovered the previous day, Tuesday. The compromised system is used by employees for work activities and sharing internal information. Bithumb reported the incident to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and the Personal Information Protection Commission.
Why it matters
The incident occurs against a backdrop of heightened attention to cybersecurity in the South Korean financial sector. According to Lee Chan-jin, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), major investment firms suffered hacking incidents on the day before the Bithumb intrusion was discovered. As of October 14, cyberattacks had hit 16 financial companies in the country. The FSS is assessing the situation at three specific firms: Bithumb, Daishin Securities and Mirae Asset Global Investments.
Daishin Securities confirmed the theft of personal and credit data belonging to 38,490 customers following an external attack. Meanwhile, Mirae Asset Global Investments blocked anomalous access to its web systems, stating that investor information was not affected by the incident.
The numbers
Bithumb ranks second in trading volume among crypto exchanges in South Korea. In February, the company had already experienced a technical incident: 620,000 BTC (estimated value of approximately $40 billion USD) were erroneously credited to customers instead of South Korean won. At the time, CEO Lee Jae-won attributed the error to weak internal controls and deficiencies in monitoring internal systems.
What remains unclear
Bithumb clarified that the compromised system is separate from the trading platform and that customer virtual assets are not accessible through this channel. However, the exact number of individuals whose data was exposed has not yet been communicated, nor whether deposits or withdrawals were affected. The company continues to analyze the precise scope of the incident, including the possibility that member data may be involved.
Sources: CoinDesk, Cointelegraph.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice or an investment recommendation.
* Content created with the assistance of artificial intelligence systems.