Bithumb Hacked as South Korea's Financial Sector Takes a Hit
Bithumb says an internal mobile system was breached; customer funds do not appear to have been affected, but KISA and regulators are investigating the data leaks.
Key Takeaways
- Bithumb says an outsider gained access to an internal mobile system and may have stolen personal information.
- According to the exchange, no crypto funds are known to have been lost, and the affected system is separate from the trading platform.
- The hack fits into a broader wave of cyber incidents at South Korean financial companies, where regulators are keeping a closer watch.
Bithumb said an outsider gained access to an internal mobile system that employees use to work and send messages. According to the South Korean crypto exchange, personal information was stolen in the breach. The company says that, as far as it knows, no crypto funds were lost, but it is still investigating how extensive the damage is.
Internal System Hit
The attack was discovered on Tuesday and then reported to the Korea Internet & Security Agency and the Personal Information Protection Commission, South Korean media reported. Bithumb told Yonhap that it is still investigating exactly which data was affected, including the possibility that member information was involved.
The exchange stressed that the affected system is separate from the trading platform. That means customer funds should not have been accessible through this breach. Bithumb has not yet said whether deposits or withdrawals were affected, or how many users may have been hit.
More Hacks in South Korea
The case is not isolated. The Financial Supervisory Service named Bithumb on Wednesday as one of three financial companies it was reviewing at the time. Daishin Securities said personal and credit data for 38,490 customers had been leaked in an outside attack. Mirae Asset Global Investments said it had blocked unusual access to some web systems and that investor information was not affected.
FSS Governor Lee Chan-jin said during a meeting with bank holding company executives that major financial institutions had faced multiple hack incidents the day before. Earlier this month, he had already said that cyberattacks had hit 16 South Korean financial companies by October 14.
Why This Matters
For European crypto readers, this case shows that even major exchanges remain vulnerable to attacks on internal systems, even if the trading platform itself does not appear to be directly affected. In South Korea, this is also happening against the backdrop of a broader wave of cyber incidents in the financial sector, which has pushed regulators to step up monitoring. For the crypto industry, it once again highlights how important access control, internal controls, and fast incident reporting are.
Bithumb already took a second hit to its internal controls earlier this year. In February, the exchange accidentally credited customers with 620,000 BTC, worth more than $40 billion (€35.9 billion) at the time, instead of 620,000 won. CEO Lee Jae-won said then that the company was sharply aware of the weak spots in internal system controls.
