Crypto company Coinbase reported that some contractors and employees based outside the U.S. stole the data of some of its customers, including names, addresses, and emails, for hackers who used them to trick its customers into moving their funds to accounts linked to the attackers. According to Reuters, the crypto exchange projects a loss of $180 million to $400 million because of this cyberattack, which affected only a small segment of the company’s customer base. Customers who lost money also need not worry, as the company said it will reimburse them.
The company received an email from the threat actor last May, saying that they had information on customer accounts and internal documents, and were asking for a $20 million ransom. But instead of paying off the hackers, Coinbase instead alerted law enforcement and established a reward of the same amount for information that will lead to the arrest of the attackers.
“Instead of funding criminal activity, we have investigated the incident, reinforced our controls, and will reimburse customers impacted by this incident,” Coinbase said. It also added, “Remember, Coinbase will never ask for your password, 2FA codes, or for you to transfer assets to a specific or new address, account, vault, or wallet. We will never call or text you to give you a new seed phrase or wallet address to move your funds to. If you receive this call, hang up the phone. Coinbase will never ask you to contact an unknown number to reach us.”
Coinbase has since fired all the involved overseas customer support agents who stole the customer data. It also reiterated that “no passwords, private keys, or funds were exposed, and Coinbase Prime accounts are untouched.” The $400 million loss is also relatively small compared to the $328 billion worth of assets it holds and its more than $67 billion market capitalization.
Despite not being widely used for day-to-day transactions, losses from blockchain hacks have reached over $2.2 billion in 2024. Earlier this year, ByBit, another cryptocurrency exchange platform, fell victim to a $1.5 billion hack — the largest crypto heist in recorded history — which the FBI suspects was the work of North Korean hackers.
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