Kraken: Hackers seize $3 million
The crypto exchange Kraken has fallen victim to a hack.
The crypto exchange Kraken has fallen victim to a hack. The attack took place on June 5. According to Chief Security Officer Nick Percoco, the perpetrators were able to steal cryptocurrencies totaling three million US dollars (USD). The hackers allegedly took advantage of a security flaw that allowed them to artificially inflate the account balance. The cryptocurrency security company CertiK is behind the hack.
According to Percoco, the hackers had reported the vulnerability to Kraken. From Kraken's point of view, however, they did not meet all the ethical standards that so-called white-hat hackers should follow. White hat hackers only look for vulnerabilities or exploits when they have legal permission to do so. The hackers allegedly initially obtained only four U.S. dollars. However, they then allegedly exploited the vulnerability again and stole another three million USD in cryptocurrency.
Accordingly, Chief Security Officer Nick Percoco speaks of "criminal activity." View post on X, "We are treating this as a criminal matter and coordinating with law enforcement agencies accordingly."
CertiK has a different take. CertiK was "threatened" and the corresponding crypto-addresses for repayment of the stolen funds were not provided at all. View post on X.
According to Kraken, at no time were customers' assets compromised. The hackers were able to steal the corresponding assets from the exchange's wallets.
The reputational damage to both companies is immense. The security vulnerability at Kraken does no good to the company's IT infrastructure. CertiK, on the other hand, failed to meet all ethical standards for white-hat hacking, according to current information. It is not clear why it was necessary to withdraw another three million USD in cryptocurrency after the vulnerability was exploited.
