Personal information leaked in Coinbase cyberattack, cost could be $400 million

Date:
Fri, 16 May 2025 12:28:00 +0000

Description:
Hackers bribed Coinbase employees to obtain the data and later demanded a ransom.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Coinbase
confirmed suffering a cyberattack recently The attack started when crooks bribed the company's employees overseas Passwords, and user funds, were not affected

Coinbase, one of the biggest centralized cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, suffered a cyberattack which might cost it between $180 million and $400 million. This is according to Reuters, citing a regulatory filing submitted by the company earlier this week.

The exchange said that on May 11, it received an email from an unknown threat actor who claimed they obtained internal documents, and sensitive data about certain customer accounts. Coinbase later confirmed these claims, saying that only a small subset of customers were affected.

The data stolen doesnt include login credentials or passwords , but Coinbase did say it would reimburse anyone who gave their money to the attackers. To obtain the files, the criminals allegedly paid multiple contractors and employees who were working in support roles outside the US.

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The individuals involved were identified and subsequently fired. There is no information on possible legal action against them.

The attackers demanded a ransom of $20 million in exchange for the data,
which Coinbase refused to pay. Instead, it is now offering that exact amount of money - $20 million - as a bounty to anyone who comes forward with actionable information regarding the hackers identities or whereabouts.

Crypto is in a difficult position right now, trying to establish itself as a legitimate industry, while being surrounded by theft, scams, crime, and regulatory pressure. Just a few months ago, ByBit - another major cryptocurrency exchange - was hacked, with North Korean cybercriminals
walking away with $1.5 billion in different tokens.

Earlier this May, Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of the bankrupt crypto bank, Celsius Network, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to securities fraud and commodities fraud, and recently - in broad daylight - three individuals tried to kidnap the daughter of a crypto exchange CEO.

At the same time, Reuters is reporting that the SEC took the opportunity to investigate if Coinbase misstated user figures and if it has inadequate KYC practices. Coinbase denied the probing, though.

Via Reuters You might also like Coinbase 2FA error fixed after many believed their account was hacked Take a look at our guide to the best authenticator app We've rounded up the best password managers



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/personal-information-leaked-in-coinbase -cyberattack-cost-could-be-usd400-million


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