{"id":27790,"date":"2025-05-21T06:02:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T06:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=27790"},"modified":"2025-05-21T06:02:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T06:02:06","slug":"data-breach-nightmare-coinbase-leak-could-result-in-users-dying-expert-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=27790","title":{"rendered":"Data Breach Nightmare: Coinbase Leak Could Result In Users \u2018Dying\u2019, Expert Warns"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Coinbase is under scrutiny after confirming a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-05-19\/coinbase-customer-data-theft-investigated-by-justice-department\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">security breach<\/a> that exposed personal information of some of its users. The crypto exchange said fewer than 1% of its monthly transacting users were affected.<\/p>\n<p>Still, that small slice could mean thousands of people. According to reports, the attack could end up costing Coinbase as much as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paymentsdive.com\/news\/coinbase-crypto-cybersecurity-breach-regulation\/748388\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">$400 million<\/a> in reimbursements.<\/p>\n<p>But money might not be the biggest issue here. What\u2019s more troubling is the kind of information that was <a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/coinbase-coin-drops-cyberattack-disclosure-121330470.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">leaked<\/a>\u2014home addresses and account balances. Some experts say this kind of data falling into the wrong hands could put people in real danger.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Stolen Info Could Lead To Physical Violence<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch and Arrington Capital, didn\u2019t hold back his concerns. In a May 20 post on X, he said this breach could lead to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/arrington\/status\/1924587249674412266\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">people \u201cdying.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt probably has already,\u201d he added. His comment wasn\u2019t just a hot take. There\u2019s been a wave of <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/crypto-entrepreneurs-in-france-now-under-guard-after-kidnapping-surge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \">violent attacks<\/a> aimed at crypto holders. These are not random thefts\u2014some involve kidnapping and even torture.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I am a long time investor in and champion of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/coinbase?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@coinbase<\/a>. Something that has to be said though \u2013 this hack \u2013 which includes home addresses and account balances \u2013 will lead to people dying. It probably has already. The human cost, denominated in misery, is much larger than the $400m\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ruSYKAGH7x\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/ruSYKAGH7x<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michael Arrington <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.1.0\/72x72\/1f3f4-200d-2620-fe0f.png\" alt=\"\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\"> (@arrington) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/arrington\/status\/1924587249674412266?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 19, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>On May 4 in Paris, the father of a French crypto entrepreneur was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/finance\/currencies\/crypto-industry-robberies-attacks-32c2867a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">abducted<\/a>. The attackers reportedly cut off one of his fingers and sent a video to his son, demanding 5 million euros in crypto.<\/p>\n<p>French police eventually rescued the victim after two days and arrested five suspects. That happened just days before Coinbase confirmed its own breach. The connection may be coincidence, but the trend is real\u2014crypto investors are becoming targets.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tradingview.com\/x\/XNlB3X0R\/\" width=\"1835\" height=\"884\"><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Hackers Paid Off Customer Service Workers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>What makes the Coinbase breach even more shocking is how it happened. According to reports, cybercriminals bribed contractors working in customer service outside the US.<\/p>\n<p>That gave them a way into internal systems without needing to hack anything directly. No passwords or private keys were stolen, and no crypto funds were taken, but criminals walked away with enough personal data to pull off serious scams.<\/p>\n<p>These kinds of inside jobs are hard to predict and even harder to stop. They show how weak some parts of the crypto industry still are when it comes to handling user security\u2014especially when outsourcing is involved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Experts Call For Better Security Layers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ronghui Gu, one of the guys behind the security firm CertiK, says crypto companies really need to step up their game. He\u2019s talking about things like limiting who can access what, using two-factor logins, and not just trusting everything by default.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, he thinks companies should keep a close eye on their systems and make sure the staff\u2014especially the ones dealing with private info\u2014actually know how to spot trouble before it starts.<\/p>\n<p>But even that might not be enough. Gu warned that more attackers are skipping over tech defenses and going after people instead. That\u2019s how social engineering works\u2014tricking or bribing people to gain access.<\/p>\n<p><em>Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coinbase is under scrutiny after confirming a security breach that exposed personal information of some of its users. The crypto exchange said fewer than 1% of its monthly transacting users were affected. Still, that small slice could mean thousands of people. According to reports, the attack could end up costing Coinbase as much as $400 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-27790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}