The Crypto.com platform has been the victim of a cyberattack. Hackers have managed to circumvent the double authentication system in order to access user accounts. Several fraudulent transfers have been made. In total, the losses amount to 29 million euros, mainly in Bitcoin and Ethereum.
With the recent explosion in the price of Bitcoin, there are more and more cryptocurrency owners. And in fact, they become a prime target for hackers. In 2021, crimes related to digital assets brought in $14 billion to scammers and hackers.
And justly, this sum will increase by several million dollars. Indeed, Crypto.com, one of the main cryptocurrency exchange and storage platforms with 10 million subscribers, to be the victim of a cyberattack. During the weekend of January 15, 2022, several users claim that their digital wallet was emptied without their knowledge.
On Monday January 17, the platform decided to suspend all possible operations, the time to find the origin of the fault. It took 14 hours to find a solution to the problems that apparently allowed hackers to access customer wallets. Customers who had yet activated two-factor authentication.
More than 29 million euros stolen in cryptocurrencies
On its official blog, Crypto.com teams confirmed that they have “detected unauthorized activity on a small number of user accounts, where transactions were approved without the user entering the 2FA authentication check”. This Thursday, January 20, the company gave new details on the case.
After investigation, it turns out that 483 accounts were compromised during the last weekend. The hackers made many fraudulent transactions. In total, the attackers succeeded in stealing no less than 29 million euros in cryptocurrencies, mainly in Bitcoin and Ethereum (4,836, 26 ETH and 443.93 BTC).
Note that the stolen funds have been fully refunded to the injured users, more fear than harm therefore in this case. Well, for customers anyway. Regarding why and how these hackers managed to break the security of Crypto.com, the platform remains evasive. If it is necessary to dispense with details on this subject, on the other hand, the company has specified the measures it intends to take to improve safety.
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Crypto.com promises new security measures
In the first place, a security delay of 24 hourswill be set up for any addition of an external account for transfers, thus allowing the owner to validate or not the authenticity of the operation. “Users will receive notifications indicating that withdrawal addresses have been added, to give them enough time to react and respond”, assures the company.
By the next few months, the platform also intends to abandon 2FA for an MFA system, a multifactorial protection. A special protection program will also be put in place. Users who join will be eligible for reimbursement of stolen funds up to $250,000.
Source: Crypto.com
