Indonesia’s cryptocurrency exchange Indodax recently fell victim to a cybersecurity attack with a loss of over $22 million in different tokens. As a measure to address the security breach, the exchange halted its operations, presenting it as ‘maintenance’ to its users. Evidence of cyber intrusion was also noticed in some of their social media activities, such as a questionable giveaway announced on Instagram, raising suspicions of additional security concerns.
The cyber attack which took place in the early hours of Tuesday was targeted primarily at the exchange’s hot wallets, according to security researchers. Tokens worth over $14 million were stolen, including ether (ETH), Tron’s TRX, bitcoin (BTC), and Polygon’s MATIC. Smaller amounts of other tokens were also taken, as reported by security firms Slowmist and CertiK.
Despite the heist, the total loss is relatively small given that the exchange’s wallets still hold over $400 million worth of various tokens, based on Arkham’s data. This cyber attack financial impact is manageable considering Indodax’s trading volume. The exchange, which primarily caters to the local Indonesian market, witnessed over $11 million worth of cryptocurrency trades in the past 24 hours, as per CoinGecko.
Indodax issued a statement acknowledging the cyber attack early on Tuesday, attributing the operational halt to ‘maintenance’ activities. However, some users claim they could no longer view their wallet balances, creating apprehensions about further security lapses.
There is yet another twist in this case: Indodax’s Instagram account is announcing a ‘giveaway’ in Indonesian Rupiah, pointing to a potential compromise. The specifics about the mode of attack are still being determined and are not yet disclosed.