Liquid Exchange Hacked for $97 Million

Summary

On August 18, 2021, Liquid, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked for $97 million. The attacker gained access to one of the exchange’s hot wallets, which are used to store user funds that are available for withdrawal.

Attackers

The identity of the attacker(s) is unknown.

BTC:

• 1Fx1bhbCwp5LU2gHxfRNiSHi1QSHwZLf7q

ETH:

• 0x5578840aae68682a9779623fa9e8714802b59946
• 0xefb33ccafc98d5fdb27a6f5ff17350ca76bf3b53

XRP:

• rfapBqj7rUkGju7oHTwBwhEyXgwkEM4yby

TRX:

• TSpcue3bDfZNTP1CutrRrDxRPeEvWhuXbp

Losses

The attackers managed to steal a total of $97 million worth of cryptocurrency from the Liquid hot wallet.

Timeline

• August 18, 2021: The attacker gained access to one of the exchange’s hot wallets and began withdrawing funds.
• August 19, 2021: Liquid reported a security attack on its hot wallets.
• August 19, 2021: Liquid announced that the hack had resulted in a loss of $97 million.

Security Failure Causes

• Insufficient system security measures: The organization may not have had enough security measures in place to detect and prevent malware attacks. This could include not monitoring the network enough, not having intrusion detection systems, or not having enough protection against advanced malware threats.
• Lack of employee awareness and training: Human error or lack of awareness among employees could have played a role in the security failure. Employees may not have been trained enough to recognize and respond to phishing attempts, social engineering, or other attack vectors. This could have made the organization more susceptible to the initial malware infiltration.