One of the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchanges was hit with a major cyberattack where sensitive information was stolen from countless customers, and it's estimated that it'll take $400,000,000 in reimbursement payments to right the situation.
Cyberattacks are some of the biggest threats anyone can be exposed to in the internet age, as it's estimated that one occurs every 39 seconds in the United States alone.
They can leave your personal information at risk on an individual and wider scale if a larger company were to be hit, and threat actors typically request significant ransom sums in order to restore access to whoever they have targeted. Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase is the latest to suffer such a fate, and its status as the third largest of its kind worldwide means that a hefty reimbursement bill is on its way.
As reported by the Metro, Coinbase initially received a threatening email on May 11, which claimed that the hackers had gained access to customer information and company documents.
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It has been reported that the bad actors had gained this information by paying off several Coinbase employees and contractors who lived outside of America, and these individuals have since been fired by the company.
Thankfully, the hackers didn't manage to gain access to any login information, but personal data such as names, home addresses, and emails were obtained, and some customers were apparently tricked into sending money to the hackers, too.
It's estimated that Coinbase will now have to pay out a total between $180,000,000 and $400,000,000 to those affected by the cyberattack, which is significantly larger than the $20,000,000 ransom demanded by the hackers, which the company refused to pay.
It has also revealed a reward that totals the same figure as the ransom to anyone who provides information about the attackers, as they are now collaborating with law enforcement to achieve justice.
Coinbase has also outlined that the attack affected at least 69,461 of its customers, as per TechCrunch, and has announced additional safeguarding measures in a new blog post to hopefully prevent an attack like this from happening again.
It will now monitor 'high-risk' transactions, require additional ID checks on large withdrawals, and introduce mandatory scam-awareness prompts into its systems. In addition, Coinbase is opening a support hub in the United States that will hopefully provide extra security and protection.
Any stolen funds are also in the process of being tracked, as Coinbase has illustrated that it has "tagged the attackers' addresses so the authorities can track and work to recover assets."
Reacting to the news, some Reddit users have argued that this is one of the dangers of companies using support systems outside of areas like the United States.
"This is becoming increasingly common with overseas support companies where the agents are being offered 1 month's worth of salary for inside knowledge on user accounts," writes one comment.
With fintech company Klarna's recent pivot to 'Uber-like' service on-demand for their human support workers, some might begin to wonder whether companies should invest more in the individuals who, under the wrong circumstances, can have such a catastrophic impact.