South Korean crypto exchange GDAC hacked for nearly $14M

[_act_]

Not you key not your coin, another exchange he been hacked.

https://www.tradingview.com/news/cointelegraph:e57051a3d094b:0-south-korean-crypto-exchange-gdac-hacked-for-nearly-14m/

South Korean crypto exchange GDAC has been hacked for approximately $13.9 million worth of crypto. The exchange has halted all deposits and withdrawals and is performing emergency server maintenance in response to the attack, according to an April 10 announcement from GDAC CEO Han Seunghwan.

I hope wise people that care for their coins that can yield 10x will have their coins on a noncustodial wallet to avoid the inconveniences or probably total loss of money.

Not you key not your coin, there is nothing better than noncustodial wallet. Cold noncustodial wallets are safer.

[Upgrade00]

If the security for the funds they hold is this poor imagine how vulnerable your data is to getting stolen and many of such privacy breaches goes unreported.

Not your keys; not your coins. It's much safer if you take charge of your security than give that responsibility to someone else.

[DooMAD]

It's almost as though these exchanges don't understand the part where they're painting a target on their back by putting so much money in one big, easy-to-steal treasure trove.  Is there some unspoken rite of passage I don't know about where all custodians have to be hacked at least once before they can call themselves a real exchange?  Feels like that's what they're all aiming for. 

It's just dismal.

[sokani]

Not you key not your coin, another exchange he been hacked.

I hope wise people that care for their coins that can yield 10x will have their coins on a noncustodial wallet to avoid the inconveniences or probably total loss of money.

Sad news for the crypto community... Some persons keep singing it everywhere like a national anthem that "not your key, not your coin", but people will not care to listen, maybe learning the hard way would teach them a lesson and probably make them learn. I choose to learn from others mistakes and I choose to hold my funds in non-custodial wallet.

[stompix]

From another article:

The stolen assets, representing approximately 23% of GDAC’s holdings, were transferred to an unidentified wallet, the exchange said in a statement on Monday.
The exchange lost over US$13.1 million in Bitcoin, Ether, Wemix and USDT. More than US$10 million of the losses were in Wemix

So, assuming they've stolen all those tokens, seems like close to 20% of the total assets on that exchange were made up of a token that is ranked in the 200+ by market cap and one that lost about 95% of its value to date, nothing shady at all.
I thought SK went on a rampage with regulations, scaring most of the exchanges away, how did these guys manage to stay afloat?

We are requesting cooperation from asset issuers (foundations), exchanges, and DeFi managers to freeze assets.

I always find it ironic how people ask for admins of decentralized exchanges to block and freeze coins, in just one split second forgetting all the key points they were bragging about when promoting such solutions.

[Orpichukwu]

I feel sorry for the victims who are affected by this incident, will the exchange pay them back all that they have lost ?

Most of the time people who fall victims of such might probably be people who just go in for day trading without the intention of keeping there funds or handing over there assets protection over to the exchange.
Some people are just at the suppose wrong place at the wrong time. They are just cut off in the middle of what they don't know.

When it's comes to saving #Not your Key Not your Coin#  is something to consider and take very serious that's for all my holding's.

For the sake of day trading on my favorite coins and other tokens which I keep on watch I still drop few $ on the exchanges which I use to run day trading. 

[blue Snow]

Not you key not your coin, another exchange he been hacked.

That very unlucky person if have been saving for a long time (Adjust:Not you key not your coin), but loss only a second at the same time he sent to GDAC Exchange.

I always find it ironic how people ask for admins of decentralized exchanges to block and freeze coins, in just one split second forgetting all the key points they were bragging about when promoting such solutions.

Can they ask Tether to freeze USDT ($220K?, if possible, that is enough significant to reduce the disadvantage? and maybe make people more comfortable to keep USDT than decentralizing cryptos such as BTC and ETH. this is an irony I think.

[Coyster]

Can they ask Tether to freeze USDT ($220K?, if possible, that is enough significant to reduce the disadvantage? and maybe make people more comfortable to keep USDT than decentralizing cryptos such as BTC and ETH. this is an irony I think.

How can people be more comfortable hodling an asset that the issuer can freeze, i for one believe that quite a lot of people use crypto to get away completely from financial censorship. Mind you that ETH isn't decentralized, and since Tether can freeze your coins it is a reason to be 'uncomfortable' hodling it and for you to use Bitcoin, the crypto you're pretty sure nobody is freezing from you if you have it in your noncustodial wallet and not in a centralized exchange.

Having said that, the problem with this exchange isn't even the assets they were hodling, it is the way they held it with poor security, of course in a hot wallet, even a newbie should know that funds kept in any hot wallet are vulnerable to be stolen at any given time.

According to the announcement, the attacker gained control of some of the exchange’s hot wallets on the morning of April 9 and, at 7 am

[cryptoaddictchie]

Article said that GDAC warned other crypto exchange to suspend deposits from the hacker's wallet but its not about that. The hacker can possibly use a decentralized market for these stolen tokens and coins. If he already stole it then its already on his wallet and ptobably unloading it on different dex and maybe using mixer now to hide the footprint of his track.

[mk4]

Another one bites the dust. 🫡

https://chainsec.io/exchange-hacks

Sad news for the crypto community... Some persons keep singing it everywhere like a national anthem that "not your key, not your coin", but people will not care to listen, maybe learning the hard way would teach them a lesson and probably make them learn. I choose to learn from others mistakes and I choose to hold my funds in non-custodial wallet.

Experience is the best teacher, unfortunately. Same thing with how a child would touch the pavement with wet paint despite the "wet paint" sign. Same thing with delving into altcoins without knowing what they're doing.

[ImThour]

There are advantages and disadvantages of using your own exchange and being your own bank. I recently got scammed despite being so knowledgeable about most of the scam types however I got vulnerable to address phishing, that is the only disadvantage of being your own bank using DeFi that you tend to take security risks which can drain your wallets completely however in exchanges, if you are using a trusted exchange with millions of users, you will not be the only one who is getting scammed.

Overall, I am using exchange and my own wallet with equal share and equal risk on both the methods. Stay safe everyone.

[dzungmobile]

Reminder: do not keep your money in online accounts and see Exchange graveyard to feel about risk of storing your cryptocurrency on exchanges.

Learn some more lessons from Security checklist

Article said that GDAC warned other crypto exchange to suspend deposits from the hacker's wallet but its not about that. The hacker can possibly use a decentralized market for these stolen tokens and coins. If he already stole it then its already on his wallet and ptobably unloading it on different dex and maybe using mixer now to hide the footprint of his track.

They can use mixers or non-KYC exchanges to do that.
https://kycnot.me/

Mind you that ETH isn't decentralized, and since Tether can freeze your coins it is a reason to be 'uncomfortable' hodling it and for you to use Bitcoin, the crypto you're pretty sure nobody is freezing from you if you have it in your noncustodial wallet and not in a centralized exchange.

It can be done by smart contract and by Tether company with their smart contract. It does not relate to Ethereum and Tether company does not have to ask Vitalik Buterin for approval to freeze your USDT.

[NotATether]

It's almost as though these exchanges don't understand the part where they're painting a target on their back by putting so much money in one big, easy-to-steal treasure trove.  Is there some unspoken rite of passage I don't know about where all custodians have to be hacked at least once before they can call themselves a real exchange?  Feels like that's what they're all aiming for. 

It's just dismal.

And people wonder why they don't just store all the deposits in hardware wallets... but no, they have to have "investments" and "yields" for the customers and need to store it in an automated hot wallet for that.

I honestly would not mind a few hours delay during the withdrawals if it means someone has to manually unlock the hardware wallet and send the money out.

[Crypt0Gore]

Sushi swap was also hacked two days ago, that's a Dex swap, right? Those who provide LP are all caught in the mess, many people lose money as the hacker ran away with over 3 million in dollars, sushi team said they will find a way to reimburse those that are affected but that is because the team want to keep their reputation, not all projects will do this that's why keeping your asset in your own wallet is the best practice ever.

Either Centralized exchange or even Dex Swap be very careful around them, learn to revoke your interaction with swap platforms, and keep your private keys very safe.

[pakhitheboss]

2020 and 2021 were the worst years in terms of crypto exchnage getting hacked. Most of the time it is a rouge employee who does it. Still these exchanges won't do enough to secure the funds of users.

Users still do not not understand the concept of "not your key not your coins" and keep blindly trusting exchanges. When a hack happens they will put the blame on cryptocurrency market for their downfall. Next the mainstream media would come into action and start spreading lies.

This is a vicious cycle that has been going on from 2012. The worst part is that no one is willing to accept their fault. Niether the exchange nor the users of those hacked exchanges.

[Saisher]

Article said that GDAC warned other crypto exchange to suspend deposits from the hacker's wallet but its not about that. The hacker can possibly use a decentralized market for these stolen tokens and coins. If he already stole it then its already on his wallet and ptobably unloading it on different dex and maybe using mixer now to hide the footprint of his track.

Hackers are not only good at hacking they are also good at getting away, there's no use hacking exchanges and hacking wallets if they are not good at getting away, they know where to go and what to do, and authorities should be good at tracking and catching these scammers, authorities should be fast because hackers will try everything to deceive people from catching them because they know that they are being tracked.
Exchange hacking will be stopped if all major players in the industry will bind together to trace those funds to where they are going
but blame should be on exchanges for not upgrading their security and having lapses in security.

[Coyster]

Exchange hacking will be stopped if all major players in the industry will bind together to trace those funds to where they are going
but blame should be on exchanges for not upgrading their security and having lapses in security.

Most of the blame should also be on the individuals who have constantly refused to be their own banks, but have blindedly given that responsibility to centralized exchanges. I'm afraid all the major players in the industry cannot aid in the freezing of stolen funds, not all crypto platforms request KYC from their customers, and so many are built for privacy and anonymity purpose, the only way all the major players in the industry can aid in chasing down stolen funds is if there is zero privacy or decentralized oriented platforms or cryptocurrency, and at that stage the industry becomes more like the traditional financial system.

[Antotena]

For how long will these hack be put to a stop, there is reputation of crypto at stake and it seems this guy's don't give a damn about it. I think this this hack is done deliberately to steal customers fund and look for alternative excuse to follow back door. It's has been hack and rug pull since 2021 till now and people are still losing their money.

If only people are force to maintain their keys, they would but no choice than to learn to hold the hard, easy things are very soft to penetrate when it comes to Cryptocurrency.

[stompix]

Can they ask Tether to freeze USDT ($220K?, if possible, that is enough significant to reduce the disadvantage? and maybe make people more comfortable to keep USDT than decentralizing cryptos such as BTC and ETH. this is an irony I think.

Of course, they can, and probably Tether will act immediately
This is a bit old information (late 2022) but :

Tether works closely with law enforcement worldwide to assist in investigations, and has to date assisted in freezing over 360 million in assets, 101 million of which have either been reissued or are scheduled to be reissued. ~snip~
The total amount of Ethereum-based USDT on all banned wallets is worth more than 443 million

I wouldn't be surprised of those 220k are already frozen.

Another one bites the dust. 🫡
https://chainsec.io/exchange-hacks

Interesting stats

CEX: 55 hacking events, with lost funds amounting to a total of approximately $2.4 billion at the time of these hacks
Defi: 134 DeFi exploits that have occurred, with lost funds amounting to a total of approximately $4.26 billion

So in their short life (compared to BTC) they've managed to get three times more exploits and twice as many assets stolen.
Another thing, I don't know how accurate that list is and if it really counts them all but it seems like CEX hacks have started to go down lately, this is the first of the year and last year only two hacks?

[Lucius]

~snip~
I thought SK went on a rampage with regulations, scaring most of the exchanges away, how did these guys manage to stay afloat?

When I became more seriously interested in Bitcoin about some ten years ago, I thought that things like this (hacking) did not have much of a chance of happening in countries like Japan or South Korea, because they are countries at a high technological level and with highly educated people who know their job. However, it turned out that these countries have become something that is mostly written about in a bad context, from Mt.Gox to Kwon, not to mention how many times the South Korean CEX Bithumb was hacked (at least 3 times as far as I know).

I really don't know what these people are doing there, but either they are absolutely incompetent or they are the biggest experts in internal theft, which they then present as hacking. Fortunately, news like this has almost no influence on the rest of the world, and as for the South Koreans, if they want to continue doing things the wrong way, just let them continue until finally some "smart" politician says enough and introduces a ban on crypto trading.