Popular blockchain analytics firm Nansen has suffered a security breach. The firm revealed the circumstances surrounding the issue via a post on prominent social media platform X (formerly Twitter). In the post, Nansen established that the issue surfaced after one of its third-party vendors became a victim of a security breach.
Consequently, Nansen indicated that about 6.8% of its users were affected. The firm disclosed that the attackers leveraged the exploit to gain admin rights for an account used to access its platform. This entry, according to Nansen, is known as “provision customer access.”
Meanwhile, Nansen didn’t disclose the affected third-party vendor. Instead, the firm referred to it as an “established company.” While depicting the firm, the blockchain analytics company said that the affected firm is used by a host of Fortune 500 companies. Also, Nansen added that a host of companies within the industry utilize the firm.
More so, Nansen provided insight into the damages of the attack. The company revealed that the email addresses and password hashes of the affected users were exposed. Additionally, the blockchain addresses of the affected users were as well compromised.
However, Nansen revealed that the funds in the compromised wallet were unaffected. The firm managed to identify affected users on time. Thereafter, the company communicated with the affected users, urging them to change their passwords.
How Nansen has struggled recently
Over the years, Nansen has matured into a prominent figure in the crypto space. Most companies in the crypto and blockchain landscape rely on the firm for on-chain analytics. However, in recent times, the firm has attracted unwanted controversies.
Recall that in May 2023, Nansen reduced its workforce by 30% due to market conditions. While announcing the issue, the CEO of the firm, Alex Svanevik described the layoff on his X page as an “extremely difficult decision.” Then, the CEO cited two main reasons behind the layoff.
Svanevik said the firm enjoyed massive growth during the early years of its existence. Due to that, the firm extended its services to areas that are against its core strategy. The CEO added that the financial issues that ravaged the crypto market during the year contributed to the layoff.
He also explained that Nansen attempted to diversify its source of revenue through enterprise and institutional clients. The effort failed to have any distinctive impact as its cost of operations remained high. Despite the shortcomings, Svanevik added that the company will focus on building a “sustainable business.” The CEO then described the layoff as one of the steps toward repositioning the firm.