Crypto giant Coinbase has confirmed that its systems were breached this week, resulting in the theft of customer data, including government-issued identity documents.
In a legal filing submitted to U.S. regulators, Coinbase revealed that hackers obtained information about customer accounts and demanded money in exchange for not releasing the stolen data. According to Coinbase, the hackers bribed several contractors or support staff working outside the United States to exploit their access to internal systems. The company has since terminated its relationship with these employees.
The malicious activity was detected several months ago, and affected customers have been notified to prevent misuse of their information. Coinbase refused to pay the hackers’ $20 million ransom demand.
Stolen data includes customer names, postal and email addresses, phone numbers, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, partial bank account details, and government-issued identity documents such as driver’s licenses and passports. Account balances and transaction histories were also compromised.
The company also reported that some internal corporate documents were stolen during the breach.
Coinbase plans to strengthen its security measures and open a new customer support center in the U.S.
Spokesperson Natasha LaBranche stated that less than 1% of the company’s 9.7 million monthly active users were affected. The company expects to incur costs between $180 million and $400 million related to incident remediation and customer reimbursements.
