KuCoin s Lost Thousands in 45 5v274j Minute-Long Twitter Hack, Here’s What Happened

Hackers, on April 24, breached the Twitter of KuCoin that had garnered 2.4 million followers since its launch in 2017. 7r73

Written by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 25 April 2023 16:58 IST

KuCoin s Lost Thousands in 45-Minute-Long Twitter Hack, Here’s What Happened

Photo Credit: Twitter/ KuCoin 4b116i

KuCoin has ensured s that all of its social networking platforms are safe

Highlights

KuCoin hackers remain unidentified
The company has requested s in distress to the officials
Twitter scammers have been swarming site looking for victims

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Some s of the KuCoin exchange have collectively lost over $22,000 (roughly Rs. 18 lakh) after the Twitter of the crypto exchange was briefly hacked. Hackers managed to gain control over KuCoin's Twitter handle for about 45 minutes, fishing for unsuspecting victims. Time and again, crypto-related research reports have highlighted that hackers operating in the space have been swarming in the social networking ecosystem, closely looking for potential victims who actively engage with social media posts and tend to post hints about their investments on public domains.

Hackers, on April 24, breached the KuCoin that had garnered 2.4 million followers since its launch in 2017.

After gaining control over the exchange's Twitter handle, the hackers posted a fake activity and KuCoin s who happened to engage with this post may have been affected by the losses.

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KuCoin recorded a total of 22 transactions amounting to $22,268 (roughly Rs. 18.2 lakh) in the form of 22,000 tokens of the Tether (USDT) stablecoin.

The company is now reaching out to the affected s and has vouched to reimburse them. In an official Twitter thread, the crypto exchange has clarified that the hacking only violated its Twitter and that all of its other social networking handles as well as its website were safe.

2/ Please note that ONLY KuCoin's Twitter was compromised in this incident. We acted immediately to retrieve control of the from official Twitter after the incident occurred. We want to reassure you that your assets on KuCoin are secure.
— KuCoin (@kucoincom) April 24, 2023

The company is now looking to add more layers of security to safeguard its s against such malicious activities.

“In addition to Twitter's existing 2FA, the KuCoin team will implement additional security measures to fortify the protection of our social media s. We are also conducting a thorough investigation of the incident with Twitter to prevent similar occurrences in the future,” the company's Twitter thread noted.

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Getting a hold of heavily followed Twitter s and then hacking into them to post scam links has become an increasingly adopted trend among scammers.

Back in March, crypto hackers promoted a fake airdrop event of the Ripple (XRP) stablecoin in India, after they hacked the Twitter of News24. These posts also showed malicious links to unsuspecting victims to click on and expose themselves to financial risks.

Twitter s of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), and the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) have also been breached previously by crypto scammers to hunt for victims.

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Further reading: Crypto Hack

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at [email protected]. More