Bithumb among three South Korean financial firms reporting data breaches

Bithumb said its in-house mobile system had been compromised and that personal information had leaked, Yonhap reported. The exchange's position is that crypto holdings were never in the line of fire. According to the exchange, the intrusion hit an internal mobile groupware system used by employees.

Groupware is the office plumbing: messaging, scheduling and internal documents, not the engine that matches buy and sell orders. Bithumb said that system has no connection to its trading operations. The company stated that its internal systems are kept separate from its trading platforms, so virtual assets are not at risk.

Still, the break room had personal information in it. Bithumb is investigating the full scope of the incident, including whether any customer data was compromised. The exchange notified the Korea Internet & Security Agency and the Personal Information Protection Commission on the same day it discovered the breach. Daishin Securities had a more concrete, and more uncomfortable, set of numbers to share.