It is another blow for the Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, with the Delhi Police arresting West Bengal-based SK Masud Alam who is thought to have been engaged in a serious hack according to indian news channel India Today. The cyber theft occurred in July and involved virtual currencies worth about Rs 2,000 crore ($230 million), 45 per cent of the exchange’s total wealth.
The case revolves around its accused, Alam, who is being accused of carrying out the transactions through the WazirX account created in the ‘Souvik Mondal’ alias. It was also said that this account was used to sell through Telegram to a second user, M Hasan who in turn stated that he used it to perpetrate abuse on the platform.
The cyber attack was on the WazirX hot wallet and its cold wallet, which is offline storage and holds the larger part of the funds. The investigations of the IFSO division have not found any cases of malicious attacks on WazirX systems meaning it is more of internal manipulation involving multiple players.
Role of Liminal Custody and the Security Gaps
Liminal Custody, the company for WazirX digital wallets, has been investigated in this probe. Apparently, as claimed by the police, the custody solutions firm balked at responding to their requests for more information even though they had asked the firm several times for assistance thus compromising the investigation. The ‘incident management protocols and response mechanisms’ of Liminal are said to remain further under probe by the Delhi Police, with a clarification of its role on another chargesheet to follow shortly.
WazirX, on the other hand, has shared the Know Your Customer documents and transaction information with regulators who call to try to assess the actual scale and method of the hack.
As digital assets establish a progressively higher presence in the country’s financial context, proper security infrastructure and legal admissibility will be critical to mitigating the likes of the same catastrophe.
