Big crime hits Crypto.com

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Remember when thugs burst into banks, all guns blazing? With the digital age, that era seems truly over. Today, thieves hunch over a keyboard and pull off big heists without risking their hides. Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com just acknowledged that it lost more than US$ 30 million in Bitcoin and Ether following a hack that occurred on January 17. During the operation, 483 Crypto.com users had their accounts compromised, but the company says all affected customers have been fully reimbursed for the losses. The hack exploited a flaw in the 2FA authentication control.

The Crypto.com hack is the latest in a long line of attacks targeting cryptocurrency exchanges. According to a report by NBC News, 2021 saw more than twenty exchange hacks. Each time, the hacker made off with more than US$ 10 million, and in six cases the value of the stolen funds exceeded US$ 100 million, with almost US$ 200 million netted in the attack on BitMart last December.

⇨ The Verge, Corin Faife, “Crypto.com admits over $30 million stolen by hackers.”

2022-01-20