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

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

#421

Post by snodnipper »

stringsandchars wrote: post #418
lm28469 wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> •Name, address, phone, and email;\ > blackmail each individual user Blackmail would be the least of my worries, in France we had at least five kidnappings/attempted kidnappings related to crypto investors since the beginning of the year.

This may seem callous, but isn't a large point of crypto that you are 'free' from the shackles imposed by the State? And I guess that includes protection from criminals by the oppressive forces of the State (aka the police). In which case being kidnapped and having your fingers sent to your family is an integral part of your 'freedom'.

It seems that law-abiding citizens often bear the greatest risk by declaring their assets to tax authorities and relying on so-called "trusted custodians" for savings. Ironically, for many, the safest course of action is likely non-disclosure, though this is, of course, illegal in much of the world.

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

#422

Post by wslh »

mafriese wrote: post #403

> The threat actor appears to have obtained this information by paying multiple contractors or employees working in support roles outside the United States to collect information from internal Coinbase systems to which they had access in order to perform their job responsibilities Based on the information present in the breach, I think it's likely that the source was their customer support in the Philippines. Monthly…

Beyond the Philippines low wage, the point is that there is a price for "everybody" if it were in the US it will be a much higher price, and most probably paying for higher attack benefits.

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

#423

Post by mplewis9z »

silisili wrote: post #399

> the Company has preliminarily estimated expenses to be within the range of approximately $180 million to $400 million relating to remediation costs Hopefully companies take this as a lesson about bottom dollar outsourcing your CS. For those amounts, they could afford to have hired regionally local support agents, and paid them well over industry standard...

The costs will likely be covered by insurance, which is hilariously cheap and also covers events you could never feasibly prepare for.

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

#424

Post by maeln »

lm28469 wrote: post #419
stringsandchars wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may seem callous, but isn't a large point of crypto that you are 'free' from the shackles imposed by the State? And I guess that includes protection from criminals by the oppressive forces of the State (aka the police). In which case being kidnapped and having your fingers sent to your family is an integral part of your 'freedom'.

The state takes a flat 30% tax on capital gains regardless of the source, I'd say they paid their fair share

Depends on if they cashed out and how they did it. There was a big trend for a while to go live in Portugal for a while, enough to be considered a tax resident there, and then cash out there because (at the time, idk if it's still true), they had no (or little) tax on crypto cash out.

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

#425

Post by Tycho »

A few days ago I missed a delivery from UPS (in the UK). The next day I got a text from an unrecognised cell phone that just said “Hello” and didn’t respond further. The day after that I got a scam call (another UK cell number) from someone trying to hack into my Amazon account. They wanted me to supply the OTP code that Amazon texts you for 2FA. Anyway I eventually tracked down my package (it was at a convenience store awaiting pick up), and lo and behold they had printed my phone number along with name/address on the package. I suspect someone harvested that and passed it to the scammers (not necessarily a UPS employee, could be the drop off locations they contract with). I suppose I’ll report it to the police in the slim hope that it will help them catch the scammers.

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

#426

Post by avrionov »

mafriese wrote: post #403

> The threat actor appears to have obtained this information by paying multiple contractors or employees working in support roles outside the United States to collect information from internal Coinbase systems to which they had access in order to perform their job responsibilities Based on the information present in the breach, I think it's likely that the source was their customer support in the Philippines. Monthly…

It way worse. The US companies, pay $3-$6 per hour to outsource their support to the Philippines. The companies which provide the service have very high turnover rate. For some companies the employees stay on average about 6 months. There is absolutely no reason to be loyal.

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

#428

Post by machtiani-chat »

stringsandchars wrote: post #418
lm28469 wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> •Name, address, phone, and email;\ > blackmail each individual user Blackmail would be the least of my worries, in France we had at least five kidnappings/attempted kidnappings related to crypto investors since the beginning of the year.

This may seem callous, but isn't a large point of crypto that you are 'free' from the shackles imposed by the State? And I guess that includes protection from criminals by the oppressive forces of the State (aka the police). In which case being kidnapped and having your fingers sent to your family is an integral part of your 'freedom'.

Crypto isn’t synonymous with anarchy, just like the internet isn’t synonymous with pornography. Both are cliches from long ago.

All of the victims are likely tax payers. Law and order is a fundamental service that a legitimate state must provide to all in its jurisdiction, even those who are only resident non-citizens and those that pay little to no taxes in a progressive tax system.

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

#429

Post by svara »

bambax wrote: post #413
lm28469 wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> •Name, address, phone, and email;\ > blackmail each individual user Blackmail would be the least of my worries, in France we had at least five kidnappings/attempted kidnappings related to crypto investors since the beginning of the year.

Yes that's true but it's weird they only focus on crypto investors' families? There are many rich people in France, what's the deal with cryptobros?

Guessing their profits are regularly illegal or untaxed, so they're less likely to involve the police.

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

#430

Post by skybrian »

asim wrote: post #409

Assuming they will have to inform the individuals who's data was actually breached/taken? Or is this basically the entire customer base? In which case that is VERY bad.

Their blog post says they notified affected users yesterday:

https://www.coinbase.com/blog/protecting-our-customers-stand...

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