Crytocurrency: The Hotbit exchange platform recently suffered a cyber attack. An update on the situation is in order.
It has been a long time since the crypto sphere has had to suffer a hack from a centralized crypto exchange, with hackers clearly preferring to go after the smart contracts of DeFi projects lately. Alas! The Hotbit platform recently suffered a cyber attack. An update on the situation is in order.
Hotbit forced to suspend services
On April 29 at around 10 p.m. KST, teams from the Chinese crypto-exchange Hotbit detected an attempt to hack their platform.
As we can read in a press release published on their site, Hotbit administrators have thus had to interrupt their entire service, to place the exchange platform in “emergency maintenance” :
“Hotbit has just suffered a serious cyber attack (…), which has paralyzed a number of generic services. During this time, the attackers also tried to hack into Hotbit’s wallets (however, the attempt was identified and stopped by our risk control system). (…) Hotbit teams have shut down all services for immediate inspection and repair, and the overall service recovery period should not be less than 7 days. “
SAFE funds, but a compromised customer database
Even if Hotbit wishes to immediately reassure its customers by telling them that “all their crypto-assets are safe”, the service interruption time (greater than a week) is explained by a malicious act by the hackers, obviously frustrated. to have been blocked in extremis.
Indeed, as detailed in the alert message from Hotbit teams:
“The attackers intentionally deleted the user database after failing to obtain the cryptoassets. Although the database is regularly backed up, we still do not know if the attacker corrupted the data before the attack. Therefore, we also need to do a full inspection of the data set. As soon as an anomaly is detected, we perform a safe recovery, to ensure that all user data is accurate. “
While HotBit estimates that these checks could last anywhere from 7 to 14 days, it should be noted that, on their May 3 update (date of this article), “about 90%” of the System Restore server base was already completed.
Unfortunately, given that the hackers had access to Hotbit’s customer database, its users should exercise the greatest possible caution in the face of the possible leak of personal data: phone number, email address, data on crypto possessions. -active, …
Conversely, everything relating to account security – password, double-authentication key (2FA) – being encrypted, they are “theoretically out of danger”. However, the Hotbit teams recommend changing your password as soon as possible.
Despite the detailed follow-up of the incident, recent suspected exit scams, such as that of the Thodex crypto exchange in Turkey, have generated some concern among Hotbit’s 2 million users. However, a priori, the cyber-attack was well mitigated, even if some spam and phishing attempts are to be expected on the side of its customers. It will also be necessary to show a little patience so that they can access their precious cryptos again.
