Korea’s Biggest Bitcoin Exchange Suffers Hack, Customer Losses in the “Hundreds of Millions” of Won

A cyberattack targeting Bithumb, South Korea’s largest bitcoin and Ethereum exchange by trading volume, has resulted in the loss of personal data belonging to an estimated 31,000 users, or 3% of its members, as reported by local news outlet MK. The stolen data includes personal information such as email addresses and telephone numbers, the latter which proved instrumental in the theft of funds via voice phishing.

Bithumb is the largest exchange in Korea, a country that is among the busiest bitcoin trading markets in the world. The exchange is also the largest Ethereum exchange in the world, according to data from CoinmarketCap.

The data breach is believed to be the result of the hack of employees’ home personal computers, according to local publication Yonhap.

“The accident was caused by an external infringement incident,” Bithumb wrote in a notice on Friday, confirming the hack. “It [the breach] is independent of Bithumb’s internal network, server and virtual wallet, and all members’ original (fiat) and virtual currency deposits are safe.