Following the recent closure of bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, another bitcoin exchange company has been attacked by hackers.
On March 3rd, Canada-based bitcoin exchange Flexcoin closed down after flaws in its software were discovered.
A statement from Flexcoin’s website advises that the exchange was attached by hackers and 896 bitcoins were stolen, worth around US $560,000.
“As Flexcoin does not have the resources, assets, or otherwise to come back from this loss, we are closing our doors immediately.”
Details of how the attack occurred were also posted:
“The attacker then successfully exploited a flaw in the code which allows transfers between flexcoin users. By sending thousands of simultaneous requests, the attacker was able to “move” coins from one user account to another until the sending account was overdrawn, before balances were updated.
This was then repeated through multiple accounts, snowballing the amount, until the attacker withdrew the coins.”
The company is now working with law enforcement agencies to trace the source of the attack.
Though this theft has caused the exchange to close, not all bitcoins were stolen and Flexcoin are working to return bitcoins which were held in computers not connected to the internet – which could not be raided – to their owners.
