The Chinese cryptocurrency exchange Binance is offering a whopping $250,000 in Binance Coin (BNB) to anyone who can provide conclusive evidence against hackers and lead to prosecution and jail for attempting to hack the exchange on March 7th, 2018.
Binance hit by phishing attack
Binance exchange which allows people to trade cryptocurrencies for other assets was hit by a coordinated phishing attack that was also thwarted by the company’s automatic risk management system.
Apparently, the unknown hackers tricked users to visit the cloned version of Binance’s official website to steal their login credential and transfer funds. The same day, hackers used the stolen credentials to log in and increase the rate of an otherwise illiquid cryptocurrency Viacoin and siphoned the returns into various accounts that they already controlled.
The massive surge in Viacoin’s buying orders capitalized its market from $64million to $159 million within few minutes. However, Binance detected the unusual activity and detected unauthorized sale orders and prevented hackers from doing any further damage.
When the news of the cyber attack against Binance went viral there was 10% drop in Bitcoin’s price. It is however still unclear if the sudden drop was caused by the attempted hacking attack or the announcement from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stating that crypto exchanges must register with the agency.
$250,000 bounty
Nevertheless, Binance is gearing up for payback and offering anyone with details that would lead to the legal arrest of the hackers behind the scam. According to Binance’s blog post:
“The first person to supply substantial information and evidence that leads to the legal arrest of the hackers, in any jurisdiction, will receive the equivalent of $250,000 USD in BNB. The exchange rate will be determined at the time of transfer.”
“If your local laws allow, you may remain anonymous,” the company wrote. “If multiple sources/segments of data are used to lead to the final legal arrests, the bounty may be split between sources.”
Moreover, Binance has also allocated $10 million for hackers who help the company in protecting itself from cyber attacks in future. If you have any conclusive information about the hackers behind Binance maybe it is your time to make some big bucks.
Alert for cryptocurrency investors and customers
Cyber attacks against cryptocurrency exchange and users are increasing where hackers are getting highly sophisticated and persistent. There are malware especially developed to steal cryptocurrency from online wallets, therefore, it is advised that you must avoid storing your funds in online wallets. Here is a review of 5 safest Bitcoin wallets you can trust to safeguard cryptocurrencies.
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