A wave of hacking attacks sweeping South Korea's financial sector has hit domestic cryptocurrency exchange Gopax, but the company has issued no official notice or apology to its users, drawing criticism. The silence stands in contrast to most financial firms, including coin-market exchange Prabang, which disclosed and apologized for breaches on the day they were discovered.
Gopax had not posted any notice or apology about the incident on its website as of the 15th, a day after financial regulators announced the hacking damage, according to financial industry sources.
The Financial Services Commission held a second emergency response meeting the previous day and said the number of financial firms with confirmed breaches had risen to 16, including Gopax.
The issue is how companies have responded. Prabang posted a notice and apology on personal and credit information leaks on its website on the 9th, saying the personal data of about 20 customers had been exposed on the 2nd. It also disclosed follow-up steps, including blocking the internet protocol address used in the access and stepping up monitoring of abnormal activity.
Gopax, by contrast, has not disclosed on its website how the breach occurred, whether customer information was leaked, or what steps it is taking to prevent further damage, despite the breach being confirmed.
Market watchers question whether Gopax is sufficiently committed to protecting personal data. It is the only one of South Korea's five largest exchanges without certification under the Personal Information and Information Security Management System (ISMS-P). "The problem is that users cannot determine exactly what damage has been done," an official in the cryptocurrency industry said.