According to Wu Blockchain, Korea’s largest crypto exchange – Upbit – has suffered 159,061 attacks targeting the platform only in the first half of 2023. To combat attacks and ensure network security, Upbit had to increase the proportion of funds it holds in cold wallets to 70% as well as enhance security for funds stored in hot wallets.
The figure of 159,061 attacks was reported by Dunamu, the firm that owns and operates Upbit, when they sent a report to Park Seong-jung, representative of the Korean People Power Party. The report shows that this figure increased by 117% compared to the first half of 2022 (73,249 cases) and increased by 1,800% compared to the first half of 2020 (8,356 cases).
Dunamu added that hot wallets often become targets of hackers because private keys are stored online. Meanwhile, cold wallets store private keys offline on hard drives or USBs, making real-time transactions more difficult to execute, thus more secure.
Dunamu said Upbit is increasingly improving its security since the hack that caused about 60 billion won ($ 50 million) in damage in 2019 and to date, not a single cyber breach has occurred.
However, Upbit had to halt deposits and withdrawals of Aptos (APT) in late September after the platform failed to recognize a fake token and allowed users to deposit it on the exchange.
Korea has long been a famous country for crypto. According to information revealed by the Korean Taxation Agency, there are a total of 1,432 individuals and companies declaring cryptocurrency assets abroad, with a total value of $98.5 billion.