The UK-based Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp has temporarily suspended its service in the wake of a major cyber attack against company online systems.
The UK-based Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp has temporarily suspended its service in wake of compromise. Bitstamp announced that its systems suffered a major cyber attack, which lead to the theft of “less than 19,000 BTC”.
“We have temporarily suspended Bitstamp services. Bitstamp customers can rest assured that their bitcoins held with us prior to temporary suspension of services on January 5th (at 9am UTC) are completely safe and will be honored in full. On January 4th, some of Bitstamp’s operational wallets were compromised, resulting in a loss of less than 19,000 BTC.” states the official statement issued by company on its website.
As incident response, Bitstamp has immediately disclosed the news of the cyber attack and as a security precaution it is informing the customers that they should no longer make deposits. While the investigation is going on, Bitstamp has frozen customers’ accounts and blocked any activity, including deposits and other every transaction.
“Upon learning of the breach, we immediately notified all customers that they should no longer make deposits to previously issued bitcoin deposit addresses. To repeat, customers should NOT make any deposits to previously issued bitcoin deposit addresses. As an additional security measure, we suspended our systems while we fully investigate the incident and actively engage with law enforcement officials.”
The breach seems have impacted just a small fraction of Bitstamp’s total Bitcoin reserves, meanwhile the majority of the virtual coins the firm manages is held in secure offline cold storage systems.
“We would like to reassure all Bitstamp customers that their balances held prior to our temporary suspension of services will not be affected and will be honored in full.” notes Bitstamp.
The Bitstamp ‘s CEO Nejc Kodric reassured its customers via Twitter, explaining that the Bitcoins are safe because are stored in offline systems, but customers fear a new Mt. Gox case.
To restate: the bulk of our Bitcoin are in cold storage, and remain completely safe.
— Nejc Kodrič (@nejc_kodric) 5 Gennaio 2015
It is not the first time that the company is targeted by hacking crews, earlier this year Bitstamp has been hit by a DDoS attack. In time I’m writing the company hasn’t provided any detail on the cyber attack neither when it will resume the service.
“We will return to service and amend our security measures as appropriate,” refers the company. “We appreciate customers’ patience during this disruption of services,” Bitstamp added in the notice. “We are working to transfer a secure backup of the Bitstamp site onto a new safe environment and will be bringing this online in the coming days.“
Bitstamp customers will be updated through the company website and social Twitter account (@Bitstamp). Every customer can also contact Bitstamp customer support at support@bitstamp.net.
Stay Tuned …
(Security Affairs – Bitstamp, Bitcoin)
