Upbit loses $36.9 mil. in hacking attack: CEO

The logo of Dunamu cryptocurrency exchange and Naver Corp. is shown in this banner displayed inside the portal operator's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. Yonhap

Korea's largest crypto exchange Upbit suffered a massive hacking attack Thursday, its operator Dunamu said.

"A portion of Solana-affiliated assets worth approximately 54 billion won ($36.9 million) was confirmed to have been transferred to an unauthorized wallet address at 4:42 a.m.," said Oh Kyung-seok, the chief executive officer of Dunamu.

"We plan to cover the full amount lost with assets from Upbit, to ensure no damage occurs to customers' assets," he added.

A notification was issued to customers at 12:33 p.m. following a joint press conference held with portal operator Naver and its fintech arm, Naver Financial Corp., on their merger.

As a follow-up measure, Dunamu said it has temporarily suspended virtual asset deposit and withdrawal services on its exchange and is conducting a comprehensive security review.

Financial authorities are also said to be preparing an on-site inspection to assess the situation.

The incident is the largest security breach at Upbit in six years, after some 340,000 Ethereum tokens worth 58 billion won were illicitly transferred to an anonymous account on Nov. 27, 2019.