According to Bloomberg, major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has suffered another hack. This time the hackers withdrew 7,000 Bitcoin (available on Coinbase), which values approximately $40 million USD. This is the second major breach the exchange has faced, the first being an incident in March 2018.

A notorious issue in the crypto-space, hacks have claimed $1.7 billion USD in 2018 alone.

Binance Hack

Via a post on its website, the exchange said that the hack occurred through a single transaction in a “large scale security breach.”

It furthered that the hackers used a “variety of techniques” including phishing and viruses to gather large quantities of user data. The exchange also warned that there may be additional accounts that are yet unaccounted for but have been affected.

Detailing the hack, Binance said:

“The transaction is structured in a way that passed our existing security checks. It was unfortunate that we were not able to block this withdrawal before it was executed. Once executed, the withdrawal triggered various alarms in our system. We stopped all withdrawals immediately after that.”

The hack was isolated to one wallet—Binance’s BTC hot wallet—which holds 2% of the company’s entire Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) holding. It furthered that all other wallets are secure and unharmed.

The post went on to say the following:

“The hackers had the patience to wait, and execute well-orchestrated actions through multiple seemingly independent accounts at the most opportune time […] We must conduct a thorough security review. The security review will include all parts of our systems and data.”

Binance Hack Security Review

This security review will take about a week, during which all deposits and withdrawals are suspended. Trading remains active, however, to allow investors to change their positions.