Malicious Hacker Reveals Customer Identities and Banking Information in $400 Million Coinbase Data Breach
In a recent data breach at Coinbase, the leading cryptocurrency exchange, over 69,000 users have been affected. According to court documents, more than 10,000 additional Coinbase customer data were found on the phone of a TaskUs employee, the customer service firm implicated in the data leak. The total number of affected users hints at several thousand more, suggesting that less than 1% of Coinbase's monthly active users were involved.
Coinbase has announced its intention to cover customer losses from the data breach, with remediation costs estimated to range between $180 million and $400 million. The exact cause of the data breach remains undisclosed, but it is believed to be due to a security vulnerability.
In response to the incident, Coinbase has severed ties with TaskUs personnel involved in the data breach, as well as other overseas agents. The exchange has also introduced stricter internal controls to prevent similar incidents in the future. Notably, Coinbase refused to meet ransom demands from the criminals responsible for the data breach.
The compromised data includes names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, partial Social Security numbers, masked bank account details, government ID images, and account data. However, the criminals behind the data breach have not been identified or apprehended, and no legal action has been disclosed by Coinbase or any regulatory body in response to the data breach.
As Coinbase continues to address the fallout from this incident, users are advised to monitor their accounts closely and follow any security recommendations provided by the exchange.
