KuCoin hack: Who was affected and who will be reimbursed?

The KuCoin Twitter account was today (24 April) hacked for 45 minutes, the crypto exchange has confirmed in a tweet.

The hacker posted a malicious giveaway tweet linking a phishing site using the official KuCoin Twitter account.

According to the tweet, KuCoin has identified 22 transactions where users lost funds after falling for the phishing scam. A total of 22,628 Tether (USDT) was lost.

The exchange stated: “The @kucoincom handle was compromised for about 45 mins from 00:00 Apr 24 (UTC+2). A fake activity was posted and unfortunately led to asset losses for several users. KuCoin will fully reimburse all verified asset losses caused by the social media breach and the fake activity.

“Please note that ONLY KuCoin’s Twitter account was compromised in this incident. We acted immediately to retrieve control of the account from official Twitter support after the incident occurred. We want to reassure you that your assets on KuCoin are secure.

“Until 02:00 Apr 24 (UTC+2), we have identified 22 transactions including ETH/BTC associated with the fake activity, with a total value of 22,628 USDT. To prevent more users from being harmed, we are currently examining and blocking suspicious addresses.”

“In addition to Twitter’s existing 2FA, the KuCoin team will implement additional security measures to fortify the protection of our social media accounts. We are also conducting a thorough investigation of the incident with Twitter to prevent similar occurrences in the future.”

Following news of the hack, KuCoin’s KCS token is down 1.77% in the past 24 hours — currently trading at $8.01 according to CoinMarketCap data.

Hacking official Twitter accounts to promote scams has become common recently. Last month, the Twitter of Dante Disparte, Circle’s chief strategy officer and head of global policy, saw hackers promote a fake USDC airdrop. Robinhood’s Twitter was also breached in January to promote an unauthorised token.