In response to a surge in network attacks, South Korean crypto exchange Upbit has taken significant steps to fortify its security measures.

Dunamu, the firm behind Upbit, recently disclosed that the exchange has increased its holdings in cold wallets to 70%, alongside enhancing the security of its hot wallets.

During the first half of 2023, Upbit faced a staggering 159,000 network attacks orchestrated by hackers.

This information was reported in an October 9th article by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.

The data was shared with South Korean Representative Park Seong-jung of the People Power Party.

Upbit's Trading Volume

The report highlights a 117% surge in trading volume compared to the same period in 2022.

Furthermore, there is an 1,800% increase when compared to the first half of 2020.

Upbit's Prominence

Upbit ranks among South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, with a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $1.2 billion.

Other notable exchanges in the country include Bithumb, Coinone, and Gopax.

To bolster security and counter hacking attempts, Upbit has increased its cold wallet holdings, which are offline storage solutions for digital assets.

Additionally, the exchange has implemented enhanced security measures for its hot wallets, which are more susceptible to hacking due to their online storage of private keys.

Dunamu, the company behind Upbit, has remained vigilant about security since a $50 million exploit in 2019.

Speaking to Yonhap, a Dunamu spokesperson stated,

"After the hacking incident in 2019, we took various measures to prevent recurrence, such as distributing hot wallets and operating them, and to date, not a single cyber breach has occurred."

However, Upbit faced a recent setback in late September when it suspended Aptos token services due to the discovery of a counterfeit token called "ClaimAPTGift.com."

This fraudulent token infiltrated 400,000 Aptos wallets, resulting in the suspension of services.

The surge in crypto hacks has prompted Representative Park Seong-jung to call on the South Korean government to adopt more robust security measures.

He emphasised the need for the Ministry of Science and Technology to conduct extensive security tests and address the ambiguity in the responsibilities of the Ministry of Science and ICT in overseeing cryptocurrency exchanges.

In a similar incident, Hong Kong-based crypto exchange CoinEx suffered a $70 million hack in September, further highlighting the ongoing challenges in the crypto security landscape.