According to Coinbase, less than 1% of its users were affected by filtration.
Paul Grewal commented that from Exchange they are working with different law agencies.
The United States Department of Justice opened an investigation into the incident in the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange, in which criminals would have bribed employees in the customer service area to steal user data.
Several investigators, including members of the criminal division of the Department of Justice in Washington, are examining the circumstances of the case, affirmed A source to the press that asked to remain in anonymity. According to coinbase, Freest employees stole data from at least 1% of their customers.
After accessing user information – including addresses, telephone numbers, emails and images of official identity documents -, The criminals tried to extort Coinbase demanding USD 20 million so as not to disseminate the dataaccording to Exchange.
The contact occurred on May 11. But, the company refused to pay and, instead, offered the same sum as a reward for those who provide information that leads to the capture of those responsible, as cryptootics reported.
Subsequently, the attackers passed by exchange staff and contacted several users, requesting to send funds to fraudulent wallets.
Paul Grewal, legal director of Coinbase, confirmed that The company is actively cooperating with the Department of Justice and other security agencies both in the United States and abroad. “We fully support that the authorities present criminal charges against these criminals,” declared.
According to clarified An anonymous source to the press, The United States Department of Justice is not investigating Coinbase for the security incidentbut to the actors involved in the case of filtration of user data.
According to Coinbase estimates, the attack I could cost them up to USD 400 million. However, there are those who consider this not enough.
Some speak of business negligence, others of security advice
Despite being a Coinbase defender, investor Michael Arrington, express Its deep disappointment through platform X, highlighting the seriousness of the recent security incident. «This Hack, which includes home addresses and account balances, will lead to the death of people. He has probably done it »he said, stressing that the human cost, measured in suffering, far exceeds the approximately USD 400 million that the company estimates as a financial impact.
Thus, Arrington strongly criticized the company for prioritizing low -cost customer service options, which, according to him, has contributed to this security gap. In addition, he advocated severe consequences, including prison sentences for executives who do not properly protect their customers’ data, noting that, ultimately, They are coinbase users who are paying the price of negligence.
The case has caused a wave of reactions in social networks and specialized forums, leaving the limits of any centralized infrastructure to contain this type of threats. In fact, the episode has put the identity verification policies (KYC) under scrutiny that many exchanges apply. And, to legally operate in many countries, These platforms demand users sensitive personal information That, once stored, they become something attractive to cybercriminals.
Figures of the most recognized ecosystem have also ruled. Changpeng Zhao (CZ), former CEO of Binance, shared a series of tips to avoid falling into Phishing attacks, such as Do not share passwords with support agents, distrust suspicious links and use safe password managers.
In turn, the Argentine specialist Pablo Sabbatella complemented with key warnings: do not save 2fA codes or seed phrases in those managers, install antivirus even on Apple devices, and assume a critical posture against any non -verified contact. His advice was blunt: “Everything is a scam until the opposite is demonstrated.”
