Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has suffered a massive hack attack which resulted in compromise of 6,000 accounts, BleepingComputer has learned, citing a letter sent by Coinbase to victims. The exchange revealed that between March and May 20, 2021, "at least 6,000 Coinbase customers" had funds removed from their accounts.
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"In order to access your Coinbase account, these third parties first needed prior knowledge of the email address, password, and phone number associated with your Coinbase account, as well as access to your personal email inbox," Coinbase wrote.
While the exchange still does not know how third parties gained access, this type of campaign typically involves phishing attacks, Coinbase added. The US-based crypto exchange claims it has not found any evidence that the confidential information has been obtained from Coinbase itself.
The total sum of losses remains unclear, however, Coinbase already promised to deposit all the stolen funds as the attacks included even those accounts that had been protected by multi-factor (MFA) authentication.
The announcement comes after Coinbase announced plans to roll out the ability for US users to deposit their paycheck into the exchange to simplify regular cryptocurrency trades. It remains unclear if Coinbase plans to expand the feature to other countries.
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