KEY POINTS
- Sun told investors that "all Huobi HTX services have been restored" and assured them that "all funds are safe!"
- In September 2023, cybercriminals managed to siphon off roughly 4,999 ETH (valued at approximately $7.9 million) from HTX
- Two months later, HTX and HECO bridge had a breach and suffered a loss of over $80 million in crypto
Cryptocurrency exchange HTX, along with its decentralized autonomous organization counterpart, HTX DAO, has successfully restored its services following a disruptive distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack last week. Crypto mogul Justin Sun, who advises the exchange, has provided reassurances to stakeholders, confirming that the cyber intrusion did not result in any loss of funds.
Malicious actors once again hit the crypto exchange platform HTX in the morning of Jan. 19 with a DDoS attack that lasted for 15 minutes, overloading the site and causing a brief outage.
"All Huobi HTX services have been restored. Thank you for your concern and support! All funds are safe! All services of HTX.com have been restored. Thank you for your concern and support! All funds are SAFU," Sun said in a tweet.
All services of https://t.co/sqTQec4uv5 have been restored. Thank you for your concern and support! All funds are SAFU!
— H.E. Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) January 19, 2024
A DDoS attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of internet traffic.
DDoS attacks are effective because they use multiple compromised computer systems as sources of attack traffic, which can include computers and other networked resources such as IoT devices.
In the context of a cryptocurrency exchange platform, a DDoS attack can have several significant impacts, including service disruption, eroded consumer trust, market manipulation, increased vulnerability to other attacks, operational costs and regulatory scrutiny.
HTX has faced multiple security breaches in the past.
In September 2023, cybercriminals managed to siphon off roughly 4,999 Ethereum (ETH), valued at approximately $7.9 million from the crypto exchange, as reported by blockchain security firm PeckShield.
This incident was part of a series of security challenges that HTX, along with Poloniex, another crypto exchange platform owned by the crypto magnate, encountered.
These platforms collectively suffered significant losses, including one incident where over $125 million worth of customer cryptocurrencies were compromised.
As a remedial measure, Sun committed to compensating all affected users at both HTX and Poloniex. Payments were expected to be done through an "epic airdrop," which would be financed entirely from profits generated by both platforms.
Sun expressed his intentions to undertake this restitution in a statement, in which he also conveyed his apologies to those affected by these security breaches. He assured that despite these incidents, all assets were secure.
"As HTX and Poloniex approach opening deposit and withdrawal, we will initiate an epic airdrop for users with assets. Please stay tuned! My deepest apologies to the users affected by the hacker attacks on HTX and Poloniex. We will cover the loss and all assets are SAFE," Sun announced via a post on X at the time.
As HTX and Poloniex approach opening deposit and withdrawal, we will initiate an epic airdrop for users with assets. Please stay tuned! My deepest apologies to the users affected by the hacker attacks on HTX and Poloniex. We will cover the loss and All assets are are SAFE.
— H.E. Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) November 24, 2023
In November, Sun confirmed a security breach in the HTX and HECO cross-chain bridge. An analysis of on-chain data indicated a loss exceeding $80 million in cryptocurrency.
The HECO bridge plays a crucial role in facilitating fund transfers between Ethereum and the energy-efficient Heco Chain.
