Over the last few years, the number of hacking incidents in the crypto space have shot up—causing untold havoc to investors. Among the identified crypto attacks, crypto trading platforms have emerged as the numero uno target for cybercriminals.

And it’s not just the small crypto exchanges that are susceptible to cyber threats. In the first half of 2023, hackers made over 159,000 attempts to breach the security of Upbit, one of South Korea’s largest crypto exchanges.

Looks like Upbit has a security vulnerability problem

According to a local media report, Dunamo – the company that owns and operates Upbit – apprised South Korean Representative Park Seong-jung of the People Power Party of the attacks in a report on October 9. The figures represent a 117% rise from the first half of 2022 and a staggering 1,800% bump from the first half of 2020.

Upbit has a 24-hour trading volume of around $1.2 billion, making it one the largest crypto exchanges in South Korea. However, it’s prone to attacks, as evident by Dunamo’s report. To curb this menace, Upbit has reportedly increased the size of funds it holds in cold wallets to 70%. At the same time, it also bolstered security measures for funds lying in its hot wallets.

But is that enough to keep the investors’ money safe?

It’s worth recalling that hackers had breached Upbit in 2019 and extracted millions of dollars of ether. The theft occurred when the firm was moving assets between its hot and cold wallets, raising speculation that the attack was carried out by someone on the inside.

However, a Dunamo spokesperson claimed that Upbit hasn’t suffered a single security breach since. “After the hacking incident in 2019, we took various measures to prevent recurrence, such as distributing hot wallets and operating them, and to date, not a single cyber breach has occurred,” the person mentioned above said.

With the number of crypto heists increasing in frequency, Seong-jung has beseeched the South Korean government to take more proactive measures to tackle the issue. “The Ministry of Science and Technology must conduct large-scale whitewashing mock tests and investigate information security conditions in preparation for cyber-attacks against virtual asset exchanges where hacking attempts are frequent.”

Torrent of cyber-attacks in crypto space 

Seong-jung’s remarks come at a time when crypto exchanges continue to be plagued by the scourge of cyber-attacks. In June, Todayq News reported that more than $3.45 billion in crypto assets have evaporated from crypto exchanges since 2012. The numbers have gone further north since then with cyber-hacking groups like Lazarus claiming more victims.

And decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms are not insulated from such attacks either. In September, Mixin Network suffered a security breach, which wiped off at least $200 million worth of digital assets. With central banks around the world, including the Reserve Bank of India, exploring central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the question arises how traders can keep their money safe.

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