WazirX has taken action after experiencing a significant hack, filing a police complaint and working with the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team. The company is also collaborating with forensic experts and law enforcement agencies to track down the individuals responsible for the breach.
The hack, which resulted in a loss of $230 million for WazirX, occurred recently and prompted the exchange to report the incident to CERT-In, India’s premier agency for responding to cybersecurity issues. Following the breach, WazirX witnessed a substantial amount of withdrawals from one of its wallets, leading to immediate efforts to recover customer funds and investigate the cyber attack further.
In response to the incident, WazirX is working closely with other exchanges that are providing their cooperation. The next step for the company will likely involve filing a First Information Report (FIR) with the police, which could lead to a thorough investigation into WazirX’s operations and security measures.
While CERT-In has been engaged in the matter, India’s Finance Ministry and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-India) have not provided comments on the situation. The lack of specific regulations governing cryptocurrencies in India has left the industry largely unregulated, with limited oversight from authorities like the FIU.
Joanna Cheng, Associate General Counsel at Fireblocks, emphasized the need for clear regulatory expectations in the cryptocurrency space, particularly in areas like security standards, risk management, and consumer protection. Such regulations would hold exchanges accountable for their actions and help safeguard the interests of retail customers.
CoinDCX, another major Indian cryptocurrency exchange, has offered support to WazirX and its customers in the wake of the hack. Sumit Gupta, co-founder of CoinDCX, expressed readiness to assist WazirX and explore ways to provide help during this challenging time.
The Bharat Web3 Association, a crypto advocacy group in India, has not yet responded to requests for comments on the incident. As the situation unfolds, the focus remains on identifying the perpetrators of the hack and ensuring the security of customer assets on the WazirX platform.