Prominent cyber-security firm Group-IB has graded the security of online cryptocurrency exchanges, as a means of assessing insurance risk. It found long-standing platform Kraken to be the most secure, with OKEx, Huobi Pro, and CoinCheck among the riskiest.
Alongside IT platform CryptoIns, Group-IB claims to have developed the world’s first assessment system for determining the insurance premiums required to adequately cover cryptocurrency kept on major exchanges.
Losses as a result of cyber-attacks on exchange software, theft, fraud, and illegal actions of crypto-exchange personnel are all apparently covered by the new cryptocurrency insurance policy. Users across more than a dozen exchanges can now request their hodlings be financially protected by CryptoIns.
The framework weighs criteria like the level of technical security, the reliability of key storage, passwords, and personal data of customers provided by each exchange.
It also considers the quality of the individual risk management systems of each, and how rigid the know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) procedures.
“In the first place, we assess how crypto exchanges deal with crypto and fiat assets: what are the exchanges assets keys’ storage and management procedures,” a Group-IB spokesperson told Hard Fork. “In some cases, with founders’ consent, the assessment includes penetration testing using social engineering methods aimed at the network compromise through the most vulnerable link at any organization – humans.”
The CryptoIns platform was developed by Swiss broker ASPIS SA, with Selecta Insurance & Reinsurance Company handling all insurance coverage.
