Coinone Customer Data Leaked in Hack of Customer-Service Contractor [Crypto Briefing]

[Financial News] A hack at an outside company handling customer support for cryptocurrency exchange Coinone led to the exposure of customers’ personal information.
Coinone announced on the 15th that it had confirmed customer support information stored on the servers of its customer service contractor, Meta M, had been leaked. The unauthorized access took place at around 4 a.m. on the 12th, and Coinone was informed of the incident by Meta M at around 9:20 a.m. that same day.
The information that may have been exposed includes names, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, account numbers, passwords, resident registration numbers, ID card issuance dates, home addresses, virtual-asset wallet addresses, and transaction IDs (TXIDs) provided by users during chat or phone consultations. Because the information customers provided varied from one consultation to another, the items actually leaked may differ from person to person.
Coinone explained that, because it requires two-factor authentication for all logins, third parties cannot log in to customer accounts or withdraw assets using only some of the information leaked so far.
Immediately after becoming aware of the incident, the company blocked the IP addresses used in the attack and the unauthorized access routes, and switched its outsourced customer service center to email support. It also stepped up real-time monitoring of unusual access and transactions. The company has reported the leak to the Korea Internet & Security Agency, the Personal Information Protection Commission, and the Financial Supervisory Service, and is actively cooperating with their investigations.
Coinone plans to provide a separate notice or a service for checking whether personal information was leaked. It also said that anyone who suffered losses as a result of the leak may seek compensation for damages or statutory damages. In either case, the burden of proving intent or negligence on the company’s part rests with the company.
Coinone said, “Coinone member accounts, trading, and virtual-asset wallet systems are operated separately from the contractor’s servers, and no indication of a direct intrusion has been found so far.” It added, “We are investigating the exact time and circumstances of the leak together with the contractor and specialized agencies, including Coinone, and will issue another notice immediately if we confirm any further details.”
Meanwhile, a series of recent hacking incidents has targeted cryptocurrency exchanges. On the 27th of last month, Bithumb’s internal mobile groupware system was hacked, exposing the personal information of 844 customers and 715 employees. GOPAX has also experienced unauthorized access to some users’ accounts since last September, resulting in the exposure of personal information. On the 6th of this month, it temporarily suspended virtual-asset deposits, withdrawals, and trading services after receiving hacking threats.


[email protected] Im Sang-hyeok Reporter