Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (Brian Armstrong) said that cybercriminals tried to receive $ 20 million in bitcoins for non -interpretation of client data. The exchange refused to pay criminals.

According to Armstrong, scammers took possession of the personal data of Coinbase customers, including images of personality certificates, transaction history, names, as well as bank accounts and social insurance numbers. Armstrong said that cybercriminals received data using foreign agents of the client support service, which were bribed.

The general director assured that hacking touched less than 1% of users who monthly make transactions on Coinbase. The attackers failed to get closed keys and passwords to enter the account, he added. Access to the accounts and wallets of customers was not compromised, Coinbase Prime accounts were not affected either, Armstrong said.

Unknown people threatened that the data received by which any scammers would be able to use to steal crypto actors. Typically, scammers use “social engineering”, fraudulently lures the keys to the stealing of cryptoactives in people.

“The purpose of the extortionists was to collect a list of customers they could contact, pretending to be Coinbase. They tried to beg $ 20 million from us, but we refused, ”said Brian Armstrong.

Coinbase announced the incident to law enforcement agencies. The exchange also sent a report on a hacker attack in the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to Coinbase, the costs of investigation, compensation for losses for deceived customers and strengthening protection can be from $ 180 million to $ 400 million. Requested by unknown $ 20 million Coinbase is ready to pay those who will help to calculate criminals.

Recently, Armstrong said that Coinbase planned to buy bitcoins for a long time according to the Strategy strategy, which is considered the largest holder of the first cryptocurrency. Later, the exchange abandoned this idea so as not to compete with traders.