Kraken aims to crack down on fraudulent activities with addition of 2FA, Kraken Security Labs

In the wake of several exchange hacks and frauds, Kraken, a popular cryptocurrency exchange revealed that they would be upping their security with the addition of a 2-factor authentication and the formation of Kraken Security Labs. The Canadian exchange is also appointing a new Chief Security Officer to keep a check on the fraudulent activities prevalent in the crypto-verse, with the latest example being Chinese exchange DragonEx.

The company’s release said:

“Today, we are enhancing the client security experience by requiring the use of Two Factor Authentication (2FA). We’ve had 2FA available to our clients since our launch in September of 2013, but starting today, clients will be asked to enable it upon their next login. Currently, the prompted options for 2FA are Google Authenticator and YubiKey.”

Kraken stated that the measures were taken keeping in mind the best interests of users. Nick Percoco, Kraken’s Chief Security Officer, added that the exchange was planning to add more security features to its roster in a roadmap that goes till 2020. The organization’s much-anticipated Kraken Security Labs was also revealed; it’s a systematic subsidiary created to track the security of Kraken and the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Kraken’s circular stated:

“The effort is committed to improving the security of the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem by performing vulnerability research against 3rd party products – like hardware wallets, software wallets, and other related technology – and disclosing identified issues in a way that does not jeopardize the security of the industry or our clients, but rather improve security for our clients and the world once the issues are fixed.”

Kraken was also in the news earlier when UnitedCorp, an asset management company, sued the exchange along with Roger Ver, the CEO of Bitcoin.com and Jihan Wu, in connection with the Bitcoin Cash hard fork that occurred on November 15. UnitedCorp’s suit was a second coming for the exchanges as the first claim was shot down over allegations of lack of evidence. The initial lawsuit said:

“The defendants [Bitmain, Bitcoin.com, Roger Ver and Kraken] collectively engaged in unfair methods of competition and through a series of unconscionable, deceptive and unfair practices, manipulated the Bitcoin Cash network for their benefit and to the detriment of UnitedCorp and other Bitcoin Cash stakeholders.”