The Taipei-based trading platform, Kronos Research, recently experienced a cybersecurity breach, resulting in a substantial loss of $26 million in crypto assets.
Crypto on-chain analyst ZachXBT initially reported the hack, outlining the outflow of funds and confirming the significant magnitude of the breach. Subsequently, Kronos Research acknowledged on Sunday that there had been unauthorized access to some of its API keys, leading to a loss of over $26 million worth of Ether (ETH).
In response to the incident, Kronos has temporarily halted all trading operations and initiated a comprehensive investigation. The company highlighted that this is the first trading suspension since 2018 and emphasized its commitment to swiftly recovering the losses.
Kronos Research has taken swift action in response to the cybersecurity breach, stating, “We paused all trading while we conduct an investigation. Potential losses are not a significant portion of our equity, and we aim to resume trading as soon as possible.”
The platform reassured its users that Kronos remains in good standing despite the incurred losses, stating, “All losses will be covered internally, no partners will be affected.”
This security breach comes in the wake of another significant attack on the crypto exchange platform Poloniex, which recently suffered losses exceeding $100 million. The incidents underscore the ongoing challenges and risks associated with cybersecurity in the cryptocurrency space.
The Ripple Effect
The impact of the Kronos Research cybersecurity breach extended to the crypto exchange WOO X, leading to a temporary pause in its operations. Kronos serves as the market maker for spot and perpetual futures markets on the WOO platform.
However, within an hour, WOO X resumed spot and perpetual trading activities along with asset withdrawals. The exchange also reported a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on its website on the same day.
WOO X assured its users that steps were being taken to adjust CloudFlare to mitigate future outages. The exchange emphasized that trading remained operational, user funds were secure, and withdrawals remained open.
The online crypto community expressed criticism of the attacks and raised questions about the relationship between Kronos and WOO X. One user drew parallels to the relationship between FTX and Alameda Research, suggesting that the connection between Kronos and WOO X was similarly unclear.
