Coincheck theft latest report: Russian hackers may be the mastermind

Previously, the theft of $530 million worth of cryptocurrency from Japanese exchange Coincheck was blamed on North Korean hackers.
The largest-ever hack of cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck in January 2018 may have been the work of Russian hackers, rather than North Korean hackers as previously believed. A recent investigation by Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun suggests that one of the largest thefts in crypto history may have been a virus attack carried out via Russian malware.
The hack originated from the personal computers of Coincheck employees. Later, evidence emerged that Smokebots were active on the computers. The connection to Russian hackers was tenuous — bots and malware were discussed on Russian forums as early as 2011. But in 2018, it was reported that these viruses may have led to the theft of private keys.
The Coincheck case has sparked a discussion about exchanges’ responsibilities to safeguard digital assets. In the past, human error has led to the loss of cryptocurrencies , especially after private keys were mishandled.
Storing private keys on online machines or even sending unencrypted private keys via Skype are some of the less prudent practices of some cryptocurrency companies. In 2019, Cryptopia lost not only all of its Ethereum , but also access to all of its wallets after hackers took away the only copy of the private key. Later, it was reported that after the death of Gerald Cotten, the founder of QuadrigaCX, the company lost access to its wallets.
Exchanges remain one of the most vulnerable links in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. At the time of the hack, Coincheck was flush with cash after the 2017 bull run and compensated those who lost NEM at $0.80 per coin. Later, NEM fell to $0.05, making Coincheck's compensation actually very generous.
In April 2019, Coincheck accepted an acquisition offer from trading company Monex Group. With the relaunch of Bitcoin-Japanese Yen trading, Coincheck