The leading crypto exchange in Iran, Nobitex, has announced a significant security breach today with the suspected Israeli group “Gonjeshke Darande” reportedly managing to steal over $82 million (initially claimed $48 million) from the exchange.
Amid the war-like situation between Iran and Israel, the hack has raised various concerns on the security of digital infrastructures in the country.
As per Onchain data analysis and blockchain security firm, Onchain Labs, this incident follows a pattern of cyberattacks by the suspected Israeli group “Gonjeshke Darande,” which recently claimed responsibility for disabling 70% of Iran’s gas stations and targeting Bank Sepah, suggesting a coordinated effort against Iranian infrastructure amid escalating regional tensions.
Onchain Labs also noted that the exchange has seen illicit withdrawals in $48.65 million in USDT on the Tron blockchain network. The incident, detected at 06:24 UTC, prompted an immediate shutdown of the platform’s website and app as the company’s security team investigates the unauthorized access.
The breach was confirmed by the Nobitex team in an X post, citing that their technical team detected signs of unauthorized access to one of exchange’s hot wallets.
“We would like to remind you that users’ assets are completely secure according to cold storage standards, and the above incident only affected a portion of the assets in hot wallets,” the team said, “Nobitex accepts full responsibility for this incident and assures users that all damages will be compensated through the insurance fund and Nobitex resources.”
Prominent security researcher, ZachXBT, confirmed that the stolen funds total to nearly $82 million, which includes 55M in USDT ($55 million), 39.41M Dogecoin ($6.72 million) 255.65B PEPE ($2.61 million) and 18.47 BTC ($1.94 million).
While the tension between Israel and Iran in heating up, the move has gave it another turn towards a digital warfare.
