Coinbase third-party breach reveals bank account numbers

The American cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase is notifying customers “out of an abundance of caution” of a recent third-party data breach that may involve some of their personal information.

The company claims to be a secure platform for storing, buying, selling, and transferring cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether.

Coinbase explained in the breach notification letter that the company uses a third-party bank to process transactions through its platform.

The unnamed bank suffered a “security incident” that may have impacted certain Coinbase clients. The breach occurred and was discovered on July 11th, 2024, and 154 people were affected by the breach, according to the Office of the Maine Attorney General.

The third-party vendor launched an investigation and found that a file holding transaction data and personal information was “mistakenly uploaded to an external location.” This means that an unauthorized individual could have access to sensitive information.

The personal information involved includes:

• Names
• Bank account numbers
• Bank routing numbers

Threat actors can use this information in various ways to commit identity theft and fraud and to take over accounts related to the compromised individual.

Coinbase assures customers that their accounts weren’t compromised, nor were the company’s systems.

There is no evidence that a threat actor has misused any of the information involved.

However, the personal information was inadvertently uploaded to an external database without proper security measures in place, meaning that anyone could have access to it.

Coinbase implores its customers to remain vigilant, monitor their accounts regularly, and implement free credit freezes if they identify any unusual activity within their accounts.

“It is also always good practice to be vigilant against identity theft and fraud by reviewing account statements across all of your financial accounts on a regular basis, monitoring any available credit reports for unauthorized or suspicious activity, and contacting your bank if you identify any suspicious activity on your account,” Coinbase concludes.

Coinbase had almost 105 million registered and almost 10 million active users in 2023, according to Business of Apps. The company employs nearly 4000 people and helps trade roughly $300 billion.