The company described potential losses from the breach as “not a significant portion of our equity.”
Kronos Research, a Taipei-based trading, market-making and venture capital firm, reported an incident of unauthorized access to its API keys on Saturday, as described in a post on X.
The security breach involved unauthorized access to API keys and resulted in the loss of approximately 13,007 ETH, worth $25 million at the time of the incident.
Kronos loses $25 million
Following the incident, Kronos temporarily suspended all trading activities, which had an impact on Woo X, an exchange incubated by Kronos, in which Woo X played a key market maker role.
Woo X guarantees the safety of customer funds, but temporarily suspended certain asset pairs due to liquidity issues caused by Kronos’ suspension of trading. Subsequently, spot and perpetual trading and withdrawals have been resumed.
The security breach has raised concerns about the vulnerability of cryptocurrency trading companies and the challenges associated with managing API keys. Kronos Research, known for its involvement in cryptocurrency research, marketing, and investments, now faces huge financial consequences.
The unauthorized access highlights the ongoing challenge of protecting digital assets, underscoring the importance of strong security measures in the cryptocurrency trading industry.
Cryptocurrency hacks and scams on the rise
In the past few months, major cryptocurrency hacks and scams have resulted in losses approaching $1 billion.
The Certik report attributes these incidents to a variety of factors, including protocol vulnerabilities, exit scams, private key vulnerabilities, and oracle manipulation.
One notable incident was the Mixin Network breach in September 2023, which resulted in $200 million in losses and was ranked as the worst breach of the year. Cybercriminals also targeted Stake.com, resulting in $41 million in losses, ranking it as one of the top ten hacks of the year.
The top 10 hacks in 2023 accounted for 84% of the stolen amount, with more than $620 million stolen from these attacks alone. According to DefiLlama, cybercriminals caused more than $735 million in losses to cryptocurrency companies and DeFi protocols in 69 hacks in 2023. In the remaining three months, 2023 looks to be better than 2022, when hackers absconded in 60 hacks with more than $3.2 billion in losses.
These incidents highlight the ongoing difficulty in protecting digital assets and the urgent need for improved security measures within the cryptocurrency industry. #安全漏洞 #Kronos
