Coinbase
$1.68B
became aware in January that user information had been leaked by one of its support contractors but did not share the news until May, according to a June 2 report by Reuters.
The leak was traced to a support agent working for TaskUs, a company that handles customer service for Coinbase.
In January, TaskUs laid off over 200 employees from its India office, which led to protests. However, only two people were directly blamed for the leak, which affected nearly 70,000 Coinbase users, less than 1% of the platform’s total customers.
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The employee had been taking photos of her work screen with her personal phone. She and another person were suspected of passing the images to hackers in exchange for money.
Five former TaskUs employees told Reuters that Coinbase was informed right away. The leaked data included names, addresses, masked bank details, and ID documents. No passwords or money were taken.
On May 11, someone demanded $20 million in Bitcoin
$104,679.14
from Coinbase to keep the information private.
Coinbase disclosed the breach publicly on May 14 in a regulatory filing, followed by a blog post the next day. The company said hackers had bribed several contractors and staff to get access to customer records.
CEO Brian Armstrong also confirmed on May 15 that Coinbase had rejected the ransom demand. Furthermore, the exchange confirmed it had cut ties with both the workers involved and other overseas agents connected to the case.
On May 21, the hacker linked to the Coinbase user data breach reappeared with new blockchain activity. What did they do? Read the full story.
Having completed a Master’s degree in Economics, Politics, and Cultures of the East Asia region, Aaron has written scientific papers analyzing the differences between Western and Collective forms of capitalism in the post-World War II era.With close to a decade of experience in the FinTech industry, Aaron understands all of the biggest issues and struggles that crypto enthusiasts face. He’s a passionate analyst who is concerned with data-driven and fact-based content, as well as that which speaks to both Web3 natives and industry newcomers.Aaron is the go-to person for everything and anything related to digital currencies. With a huge passion for blockchain & Web3 education, Aaron strives to transform the space as we know it, and make it more approachable to complete beginners.Aaron has been quoted by multiple established outlets, and is a published author himself. Even during his free time, he enjoys researching the market trends, and looking for the next supernova.
