Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange that is relatively new to the field. The platform allows users to buy and sell their cryptocurrencies with other users who are on the platform. They are based in China, and they have gained quite a bit of popularity in the short time that they have been around. One of the major reasons that they have become so popular is because they tend to have low trading rates. After all, everyone likes to save money. They also have many coin listings available, and they have some great features that make their exchange easy to use.
However, there was some potential trouble with the company earlier in 2018 when they suffered from an attempted hack in March. One of the reasons people tend to like the idea of cryptocurrency is because it is often much safer than other types of currencies. Yet, that is not going to stop hackers from attempting to exploit these types of exchanges.
Binance Handled the Hack
Fortunately, Binance was on top of the case very quickly, and said that ensuring the safety and security of their exchange is of the highest priority. They proved that they were able to take care of the hacking issue before it became a real problem.
They said that they discovered immediately when someone attempted to get into the system and steal cryptocurrency. They said that all of the funds were safe and that nothing had been stolen.
They went on to say, “Yesterday, within the aforementioned 2 minute period, the hackers used the API keys, placed a large number of market buys on the VIA/BTC market, pushing the price high, while 31 pre-deposited accounts were there selling VIA at the top. This was an attempt to move the BTC from the phished accounts to the 31 accounts. Withdrawal requests were then attempted from these accounts immediately afterwards.
“However, as withdrawals were already automatically disabled by our risk management system, none of the withdrawals successfully went out. Additionally, the VIA coins deposited by the hackers were also frozen. Not only did the hacker not steal any coins out, their own coins have also been withheld.”
This was more than just a single, simple attack. They found that it was a multi-tiered assault. The would-be thieves created a phishing system that created a domain that looked like Binance. The differences were very minor, and it could have been enough to fool a large number of people. Once the thieves had some information from users who did not know the difference between the real and fake Binance, they attacked.
There were some trades that occurred that are not reversible. The company, and others, have stressed just how important it is to be as careful as possible when using cryptocurrency.
Because there was so little damage done, and because Binance took care of the problem right away, this is a positive result overall. There have been other hacks with other companies that have not turned out quite so well.
