Vietnamese hacker sentenced to ten years for stealing $13,000 in cryptocurrency

A hacker from Vietnam hacked into a crypto exchange, stealing the data of 29,000 users, after which he began to blackmail the site's team, demanding to pay more than 400 million in local currency. A Vietnamese court sentenced to ten years in prison a resident of the city of Ho Chi Minh, accused of stealing 300 million Vietnamese dong ($13,000) from a cryptocurrency entrepreneur – Nham Hoang Khang, according to the investigation, attacked the businessman's crypto exchange several times. The exchange was created in 2018 with the aim of facilitating the connection of sellers of digital currencies and buyers, earning on commissions. The site followed the KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure, requiring the user's phone number and personal information. In 2020, Khang created several accounts on the exchange's website and discovered a number of vulnerabilities that gave access not only to users' personal information, but also to their assets.. Soon the hacker took over the account of the platform employee, whose wallet had about $30,000.. After that, the account was blocked, but the hacker was able to get the data of another 29,000 users and began to blackmail the crypto exchange team, threatening further attacks. The head of the exchange paid the hacker 300 million VND, but soon filed a complaint with the police. Only a year and a half later, law enforcement officers managed to find and arrest the hacker. The investigation was hampered by the fact that cryptocurrencies are not legalized in Vietnam and are almost not regulated in any way. However, the country, according to Chainalysis, remains the leader in the adoption of cryptocurrencies among developing countries.