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Coinbase says hackers bribed staff to steal customer data, demanding $20M ransom

cnbc.com

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Re: Coinbase says hackers bribed staff to steal customer data, demanding $20M ransom

#31

Post by orionsbelt »

kragen wrote: post #24
neilv wrote: post #17

The article keeps saying overseas employees or contractors, but isn't more specific on who Coinbase entrusted with this sensitive customer PII. The bottom line is Coinbase didn't adequately secure sensitive customer information, and it was leaked. Not, "Gosh, 'overseas' people, what can ya do?"

It's probably hard to keep call-center workers bribe-proof.

Yes, but I do think an organization like Coinbase or a cell phone carrier - which are extreme targets of fraud - have an obligation to recognize that their employees are targets and implement greater security measures than most organizations. Maybe Coinbase should even pay higher wages and use onshore customer service agents.

Re: Coinbase says hackers bribed staff to steal customer data, demanding $20M ransom

#32

Post by bombcar »

kragen wrote: post #24
neilv wrote: post #17

The article keeps saying overseas employees or contractors, but isn't more specific on who Coinbase entrusted with this sensitive customer PII. The bottom line is Coinbase didn't adequately secure sensitive customer information, and it was leaked. Not, "Gosh, 'overseas' people, what can ya do?"

It's probably hard to keep call-center workers bribe-proof.

Call center workers who have access PII and financial abilities should probably be vetted a little bit better.

Re: Coinbase says hackers bribed staff to steal customer data, demanding $20M ransom

#33

Post by blindriver »

There should be an ISO standard with respect to how much power and information that front line customer support agents have. The more information you need, like changing passwords or accessing personal information, should get forwarded to higher level customer support agents with better training and more monitoring. This way you can design customer support experience with as little exposure to security issues as possible.

Re: Coinbase says hackers bribed staff to steal customer data, demanding $20M ransom

#35

Post by kragen »

orionsbelt wrote: post #31
kragen wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's probably hard to keep call-center workers bribe-proof.

Yes, but I do think an organization like Coinbase or a cell phone carrier - which are extreme targets of fraud - have an obligation to recognize that their employees are targets and implement greater security measures than most organizations. Maybe Coinbase should even pay higher wages and use onshore customer service agents.

Well, it sounds like they do implement greater security measures than most organizations.

Re: Coinbase says hackers bribed staff to steal customer data, demanding $20M ransom

#36

Post by pcl »

hypeatei wrote: post #16

Whatever you think of Coinbase, this is a pretty good response IMO: > and will not pay the $20 million ransom demand we received. Instead we are establishing a $20 million reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the criminals responsible

I’d say the better thing for customers would be to pay the ransom demand and get the PII back. If they want to fund a reward scheme too, well great, but if it were my data, I’d care more about Coinbase limiting the breach of the data, not playing around with retaliatory rewards.

Re: Coinbase says hackers bribed staff to steal customer data, demanding $20M ransom

#37

Post by voidspark »

neilv wrote: post #17

The article keeps saying overseas employees or contractors, but isn't more specific on who Coinbase entrusted with this sensitive customer PII. The bottom line is Coinbase didn't adequately secure sensitive customer information, and it was leaked. Not, "Gosh, 'overseas' people, what can ya do?"

How can customer support operate without knowing anything about the customer?

Re: Coinbase says hackers bribed staff to steal customer data, demanding $20M ransom

#38

Post by lotsofpulp »

kragen wrote: post #24
neilv wrote: post #17

The article keeps saying overseas employees or contractors, but isn't more specific on who Coinbase entrusted with this sensitive customer PII. The bottom line is Coinbase didn't adequately secure sensitive customer information, and it was leaked. Not, "Gosh, 'overseas' people, what can ya do?"

It's probably hard to keep call-center workers bribe-proof.

It’s not hard, it’s expensive.

Re: Coinbase says hackers bribed staff to steal customer data, demanding $20M ransom

#39

Post by kragen »

bombcar wrote: post #32
kragen wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's probably hard to keep call-center workers bribe-proof.

Call center workers who have access PII and financial abilities should probably be vetted a little bit better.

How are you going to vet people to find out if they're vulnerable to bribery? Offer them a bribe during their probationary period, during which they only have access to fake customer data?

Re: Coinbase says hackers bribed staff to steal customer data, demanding $20M ransom

#40

Post by pm90 »

kragen wrote: post #24
neilv wrote: post #17

The article keeps saying overseas employees or contractors, but isn't more specific on who Coinbase entrusted with this sensitive customer PII. The bottom line is Coinbase didn't adequately secure sensitive customer information, and it was leaked. Not, "Gosh, 'overseas' people, what can ya do?"

It's probably hard to keep call-center workers bribe-proof.

Pretty sure all the Big Banks use call centers and manage to avoid this.
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