CoinCheck, the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange that was hacked back in 2018 for over 530 million USD may have been attacked by Russian hackers, Japanese media agency Asahi Shimbunwrites, cited by Finance Magnates, reports.
Originally it was believed that the attack from January 2018, which costed the crypto currency exchange some 534 million USD in NEM, had came from North Korea. The latest evidence however show that computer viruses, linked to Russian hackers have been found in Coincheck employees’ computers.
Variants of the viruses, called Mokes and Netwire, which originated in Russia in 2011 and 2007 respectively, have been e-mailed to Coincheck employees on purpose. After the employees opened the infected e-mails, hackers were able to take over their computers remotely.
The Japanese media agency Asahi Shimbunwrites quotes a US based expert, who confirmed that “from the analysis of the virus, Eastern Europe and Russia may be related to the server criminal group”.
After the hack Coincheck had to suspended all withdrawals and latter was soled to Monex Group for 33.2 million USD.
Some months after the attack, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) in Japan, tightened the screening process for the crypto exchanges, registered with the regulator.
