The world second largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase in a blog post today, confirmed an extortion attempt against its customers by attackers. While sharing more insight into the incident, the exchange promised to reimburse customers affected by the breach.
In the post, Coinbase explained that the attackers gained access to its customers’ data through a group of rogue overseas support agents. As revealed, the criminals bribed the agents to extract data from Coinbase customer support tools affecting less than 1% of its monthly transacting users.
Using this information, the attackers planned to approach the customers by impersonating Coinbase, thereby tricking them into handing over their cryptocurrency. In addition, the criminals also tried to blackmail and demand $20 million from the exchange to cover this their activity.
What the attackers took from Coinbase customers
According to the post, the attackers were able to get the name, address, phone, email, and last four digits of the Masked Social Security number. Masked bank-account numbers, bank account identifiers, government-ID images, account data, including balance snapshots and transaction history, and limited corporate data such as documents, training material, and communications available to support agents were not left out.
However, they were unable to get customers’ login credentials (2FA codes) and private keys. In addition, they’re also unable to move or access customer funds, access Coinbase Prime accounts, or access Coinbase or its customers’ hot or cold wallets.
As part of its effort to salvage the situation, coinbase promised to reimburse customers who were tricked into sending funds to the criminals. To ensure customers safety, accounts flagged on the exchange now require additional ID checks on large withdrawals, including mandatory scam-awareness prompts. Coinbase also plans to open a new support center in the U.S, fostering stronger security controls and monitoring across all location.
The exchange also plans to increase it investment in insider-threat detection and automated response. Meanwhile, Coinbase has also offered a $20 million bounty to any one who provides informations leading to the arrest and conviction of the criminals.
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