Leading South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has been hacked yet again, with around $18 million in EOS cryptocurrency stolen.

The details come from the exchange, which posted on a link to an article on Twitter Saturday, in Korean, explaining what had occurred. The article claimed that the funds were stolen thanks to “internal embezzlement,” or put more simply, it was an inside job.

The theft of the funds occurred on March 29 at 10:15 a.m. Korean Standard Time and involved the theft of 3 million EOS tokens. Although it wasn’t confirmed by Bithumb itself, some reports suggested that $20 million in Ripple XRP was also taken.

Unfortunately for Bithumb, the new theft is now the third time in as many years it has been reportedly hacked or had user funds stolen. In 2017, at least $1 million was stolen from Bithumb customers in a hack described at the time as a compromise of an employee’s personal computer. In 2018, about $32 million in Ripple XRP was stolen from a hot wallet owned by Bithumb, affecting an estimated 33,000 users.

Bithumb noted that it had informed authorities, including the Korean internet & Security Agency, of the latest theft of funds and that it has dedicated “high-level man-power” to assist with the investigation.

Given that this is yet another case of Bithumb losing customer cryptocurrency balances, some have been highly critical of its security practices. CCN claimed that the company suffers from an “arrogant disregard of security,” adding that “Bithumb’s most recent hacking is inexcusable.”

“Given the country’s record of security breaches and Korean authorities’ crackdown on the industry, one might expect Korean exchanges to have the most rigorous security protocols in the world,” the report said. “Koreans once paid a kimchi premium for cryptocurrencies. It appears the premium price was for an inferior product.”

The report raises a reasonable point. It’s one thing for a major exchange to suffer from one hack, but three hacks do raise questions as to whether their customers can trust that their funds are, or even ever were, safe.

Image: Bithumb