Bitget CEO says $388M hack exploited third-party security vulnerability
Some stolen assets have been frozen, but Bitget has yet to disclose how much has been recovered as investigators continue to assess a possible North Korea link.
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said the crypto exchange’s recent $388 million exploit stemmed from a vulnerability in a third-party security product that allowed the attacker to obtain “high-level internal credentials.”
In comments to Cointelegraph, Chen said the attacker used those credentials to issue fraudulent withdrawal commands. Bitget’s private keys were not compromised, and its cold wallets were not affected, she said.
Bitget said it has since addressed the security flaw and tightened its withdrawal controls, including restricting internal access, adding independent verification for withdrawals and increasing monitoring for unusual activity.
The attack occurred on Sept. 24, when Bitget detected unauthorized transfers from several of its hot wallets and temporarily suspended withdrawals. The exchange initially estimated that about $352 million in assets had been affected.