Zimbabwean Cryptocurrency Start-Up Hacked

A Zimbabwean cryptocurrency company, Golix fell victim to hacking recently compromising users emails in the three weeks leading up to the 12th of March 2018.
The cryptocurrency organisation sent emails to users advising clients to change email passwords in the aftermath of hacking.

“Please be advised that in the three weeks leading up to the 12th of March 2018 we noticed that a limited number of Golix accounts fell victim to unsolicited third party access,” said Golix in a email sent to clients.
“The information gathered so far indicates that this malicious activity was carried out through compromised user email accounts.”

Golix adds to the number of cryptocurrency organisations that have been hacked in the past. In January this year, a Japanese company CoinCheck announced that it was paying back 46.3 billion yen ($425 million) after losing money to cryptocurrency hackers.

“I think the digital transformation is the underlying motivation for hackers … So expect the frequency, the size, the volume of hacks to continue to increase in 2018,” Lee Chen, the A10 Network‘s founder and CEO told CNBC.

Records show that investors lost could have lost nearly $490 million last year although there is no exact value given.
Golix also said that the hacking issue is a priority as are all matters pertaining to the account security of clients.

“As a result of this intrusion, affected users have noticed some changes to their accounts such as the conversion of their cryptocurrencies and/or the acquisition of additional cryptocurrencies through already held US dollar balances, said Golix.
“We have a technical team that has been making changes to our systems and has already put in place measures that prevent the withdrawal of any form of currency from users accounts.”

Zimbabwe yesterday officially launched the National ICT Policy to address issues to do with hacking. Although cryptocurrency organisations exist in Zimbabwe, the country central bank announced the online based currency illegal. Golix founder said that there are discussions still taking place between the RBZ and the cryptocurrency organisation in the country.