Eterbase Hot Wallets Breached

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Eterbase

A large amount of funds were taken from multiple hot wallets on the Eterbase exchange platform.

The exchange decided to shut down for 4 months, and when they relaunched, were surprised to find that there was very little interest in using the platform to trade.

Eventually, the exchange closed down for good. It was not clear what happened to affected users in the end.

This exchange or platform is based in Slovakia, or the incident targeted people primarily in Slovakia.

About Eterbase

"Launched in 2019 and based in Bratislava, Slovakia, Eterbase is a centralized exchange that focuses on crypto to SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) integration. It provides users with the ability to make and receive SEPA payments in their IBAN accounts." "ETERBASE is the first regulation-compliant European cryptocurrency exchange, offering fast, secure trading on a clean, powerful, user interface.". ETERBASE is "a Bratislava-based cryptocurrency exchange".

"On September 8, Eterbase was hacked for $5.4 million." "According to security analysts and researchers, the cybercriminals hacked into the network system of Eterbase Exchange and plundered the hot wallets of the customers." "Cyber-criminals broke into six hot wallets containing bitcoin, Ethereum, Algo, Ripple, Tezos, and Tron, draining everything. Following the exploit, Eterbase suspended all deposits and withdrawals, including any trading, until Sept.10." "The majority of the cryptocurrency funds stolen from the hot wallets were in the form of Ether, making up almost $3.9 million of the almost $5.4 million stolen."

"In a series of messages posted on its Telegram channel, the company said it detected the attack but could not stop it from taking place." "And now the exchange wants help stopping the stolen money from getting away." “Eterbase will continue with operations! Our investigation shows a big part of stolen funds ended up on @binance, @HuobiGlobal, and @hitbtc,” the Eterbase team said in a tweet. "Other exchanges have reacted to the news by offering their assistance. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao responded to Eterbase’s tweet offering his exchange’s help."

"Eterbase put its exchange into “maintenance mode” following the security breach, and reported the attack to law enforcement. The cryptocurrency exchange says that it is co-operating with investigators, and “wants to assure our clients that we are taking all necessary steps to ensure that the amount of their deposit does not suffer any damage as a result of a hacker attack.”"

"Currently, all transactions on ETERBASE have been suspended until September 10, but the company said it planned to resume operations and reassured users that it had enough reserve funds to continue operating." “We want to inform our users that we have enough capital to meet all our obligations, and at the same time, we want to reassure everyone that this event won’t stop our journey,” the exchange tweeted. “After the security audit of renowned global companies, our operations will continue. We will announce the date of the re-opening of the ETERBASE Exchange platform as soon as possible,” the company says.

Finally, on January 15th, "Thank you again for your support and patience in the previous months! We are proud to announce that http://Eterbase.exchange is LIVE again! Good luck and Happy trading!"

"[D]ue to the fact that Eterbase has lost several important partners and financial providers, Eterbase exchange platform will be temporarily paused from Thursday 22th April 2021 17:00 CET until further notice."

"@ETERBASE official investigation is progressing slowly, but surely. This week the first steps will be taken by the National Crime Agency. We hope that the case will be officially forwarded to @INTERPOL_Cyber. We tracked down 10M+ worth of hacked assets to @Binance and @Huobi." "We are currently exploring options to pivot our business model to compensate our clients and holders of XBASE and EBASE. We are also hoping that @Europol will help with returning our funds from @binance and @HuobiGlobal."

This exchange or platform is based in Slovakia, or the incident targeted people primarily in Slovakia.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Eterbase Hot Wallets Breached

Date	Event	Description
September 8th, 2020	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $5,400,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

General Prevention Policies

Customer funds on a cryptocurrency exchange should be stored in offline multi-signature wallets.

If there is a breach, relaunching and restoring customer funds in a timely manner is critical to the success of the platform.

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.