For any cryptocurrency enthusiasts out there, Bithumb may be a familiar name.

For some however, it was also the source of their complaints that circulated social media on June 29th. In a recent blog post, Bithumb confirmed that their systems were hacked, and thousands in cryptocurrency were stolen. The culprits are still unidentified, while the total losses are currently being tallied by the exchange.

With popular cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Bitcoin, the platform is the world’s fourth largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Making up the largest chunk of Bithumb’s users, those based in South Korea suffered the most. As a result, Bithumb has issued reimbursements of 100,000 won, or about USD $87 to all its affected users. The exchange has also promised additional reimbursements, as users have reported losses as high as 10 million won, or about USD $8700.

According to reports, the security breach which affected about 31,800 users (3% of total user base), was on an employee’s personal computer rather than the company’s internal network system. As such, Bithumb ensures users that their internal networks have not been compromised , and that the attack was purely phishing in nature. Reports say that user passwords were not among the data stolen, however, it is still unknown how the hacker was able to access personal accounts.

Although this may come as a shock to many, Yapizon, another South Korean Cyrptocurrency exchange was hacked for 3,816.20 bitcoins just two months ago. Additionally, Coinbase, a popular U.S crypto exchange has also been the target of many hackers. Cyber security, especially in the context of cryptocurrencies, will become evidently more important as the importance of cryptocurrencies continue to boom.

Featured Image: depositphotos/mdorottya