Coinbase, the largest exchange of cryptocurrencies based in the USA.
Coinbase, the biggest Cryptocurrency exchange Based in the United States, he said Thursday that criminals had obtained personal data incorrectly on exchange customers for use in scams of cryptographic robbery and that demanded a payment of $ 20 million so as not to publicly disseminate the information.
The CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, said in a publication on social networks That the criminals had bribed some of the company’s client service agents who live outside the US. To deliver personal data about customers, such as names, birth dates and partial social security numbers.
“(The stolen data) allows them to carry out social engineering attacks where they can call our clients who pass through the scope of the Coinbase client and try to deceive them to send their funds to the attackers,” said Armstrong.
Social engineering is a popular piracy strategy, since humans tend to be the weakest link in any network. Many Large companies They have suffered hacks and data violations as a result of such scams in recent years.
Coinbase did not specify how many clients they stole or were prey to their data to social engineering scams. But the company promised to reimburse anyone who has done so.
In presentation With the stock exchange and securities commission, Coinbase estimated that it would have to spend between $ 180 million and $ 400 million “related to remediation costs and volunteer reimbursements of customers related to this incident.”
The presentation of the SEC said that the company had “in previous months”, detected some of its customer service agents “access to data without commercial needs.” Those employees had been fired, and the company said it intensified their fraud prevention efforts.
Coinbase said he received an email from the attackers on Sunday demanding a rescue of $ 20 million in Bitcoin so as not to publicly release the client data they had stolen.
Armstrong said the company was refusing to pay the rescue and that it would offer a $ 20 million reward for anyone who provided information that led to the arrest of the attackers.
“For these possible extortionists or anyone who seeks to harm Coinbase customers, know that we will process it and take it before justice,” said Armstrong. “And I know you have my answer.”
