Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget says attackers stole $351.6 million from a limited set of hot and warm wallets after compromising a critical backend system in its wallet infrastructure. The company detected unauthorized transfers on September 24 and temporarily suspended withdrawals while it investigated.
What Bitget has disclosed
Bitget said its cold wallets and most platform assets were not affected, and that customer account balances remained recorded correctly. According to the company, the attacker manipulated transaction data and triggered the authorization process to move funds. Bitget engaged Mandiant and SlowMist for outside investigation and contacted affected blockchain foundations about freezing addresses.
The company attributed the activity pattern to suspected North Korean actors, but that attribution remains an assessment rather than an independently confirmed finding. The intrusion method also remains under investigation. Reporting should therefore separate confirmed unauthorized transfers and the disclosed backend compromise from still-developing attribution details.
Security implications
The incident highlights the need to isolate signing systems, require independent transaction verification, limit hot-wallet balances and test controls against compromised backend data. Exchanges also need rehearsed withdrawal suspension, chain-monitoring and customer-communication procedures. SectechMedia tracks connected risks in its cyber-physical security channel.
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