UK’s Cashaa exchange hacked, 336 BTC stolen

Cashaa exchange has become the latest victim of a hacking attack, which saw the platform lose 336 BTC. The exchange claimed that the hackers installed malware in its system which monitored the logins to its Blockchain.info digital currencies wallet.

One of our wallets with https://t.co/kOkoOMdrEm was compromised and funds were transferred to 14RYUUaMW1shoxCav4znEh64xnTtL3a2Ek #Cashaaexchangeissafe #Cashaafightsfraud @coincrunchin

— Cashaa (@yourCashaa) July 11, 2020

Cashaa claimed the hacker installed malware into the computer that the exchange uses to make user withdrawals and other such transactions. The malware purportedly notified the hacker when an employee logged in at 1:23 p.m. on July 10 and made two transfers. The hacker is alleged to have taken over the Blockchain.info wallet and transferred 336 BTC to his address. All this happened in just 3 minutes.

Cashaa immediately froze all digital currency withdrawals after it discovered the breach. Its fiat accounts are still operational. The CEO and founder Kumar Gaurav called an emergency board meeting to discuss whether the exchange would shoulder all the losses. At press time, the exchange had yet to reveal its board’s decision.

Gaurav claimedthe exchange suspects the hacker resides in India’s capital, New Delhi. The exchange even filed the crime with the Delhi cybercrime authority.

Gaurav blames the incident indirectly on exchanges that allow the hackers to cash out their dirty money, a report by CoinCrunch revealed. Speaking to the Indian outlet, which was the first to break the news, he stated:

“Everyone working in the crypto industry has to work very hard to bring the same level of security which currently an average person has when dealing with a bank account. As of today, hackers are very confident to hack crypto addresses and move it through exchanges that are facilitating such laundering through their systems. Exchanges like these must be shut down and owners of these exchanges should be charged with money laundering facilitation crime.”

Cashaa appealed to other exchanges to help it thwart the cash out of its BTC by the hacker. Already, several exchanges have pledged to assist in any way they can, most of them from India, a country where Cashaa has a wide presence in. CoinDCX, Zebpay, Bitbns and WazirX are a few of the exchanges that have pledged to work with Cashaa.

Dear @ThatNaimish,

Thank you for the information. We are taking all necessary precautions and are working closely with the Cashaa team to extend all necessary help.

— CoinDCX: India's Safest Crypto Platform (@CoinDCX) July 11, 2020