thecoinrepublic.com
- 1 South Korean crypto exchange Upbit noted a significant number of attacks on the platform.
- 2 The attacks were up by more than 117% since the first half of last year.
- 3 Dunamu, the parent company of Upbit, highlighted the significant measures that the company is undertaking to counter these attacks.
With the popularity of digital assets, the broader crypto market saw the accumulation of a tremendous market cap. The industry saw over a trillion dollars worth of valuation during its highs. This makes it lucrative for people with wrongful intentions, given that it is nascent enough to effectively tackle malicious attacks. Recently, crypto exchange Upbit reportedly claimed that it saw over 150K attacks in the first six months of this year.
A prominent South Korean news outlet reported that the parent company of Upbit, which owns and looks over operations of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, Dunamu, presented a report noting a number of attacks on the platform. The report submitted to South Korean Representative, Park Seong-Jung, highlighted that Upbit witnessed digital attacks about 159,000 times during the first half of 2023.
The number of attacks saw a significant jump from the last years’ attacks. The attacks during H1 2023 remained 117% up from the last year’s first half while it took a massive jump of 1,800% from the first half of 2020.
Dunamu further explained the constructive measures the company took to ensure the safeguarding of users and their assets over the platform. One of the notable changes the company has made was to distribute the majority of funds to cold wallets which account for approximately 70% of the overall assets.
The rest of the assets within hot wallet storage were protected by cutting-edge technology to ensure utmost safety, the company added.
It started taking safety measures in 2019 when Upbit experienced a $50 Million exploit over the crypto exchange platform. The diversified allocation of funds started then and continued till date. This helped the company a great deal and it did not face any such compromise after the incident.
However, Upbit reportedly became confused last month when it encountered fake Aptos (APT) tokens dubbed “ClaimAPTGift.com.” These fake APT tokens made their way to 400,000 Aptos wallets. It resulted in havoc on the platform and it soon halted trading of the tokens, which as a result, also stopped trading of real Aptos (APT) tokens.
The report came in the wake of South Korea’s People Power Party Representative, Park Seong-Jung’s efforts to acknowledge the increasing cryptocurrency hacks.
Seong-Jung has called upon the South Korean government to take more proactive measures. He specifically urged the Ministry of Science and Technology to carry out extensive mock tests to assess and improve security measures, especially in light of the frequent hacking attempts on virtual asset exchanges. He also emphasized the need for investigations into the state of information security as a precaution against potential cyberattacks.
Furthermore, Seong-Jung pointed out the ambiguity in the roles and responsibilities of the Ministry of Science and ICT in managing and supervising virtual asset exchanges, suggesting a need for clarity. These recommendations highlight the importance of robust cybersecurity measures in the cryptocurrency sector and the government’s role in ensuring its safety.