Coinbase, the third largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, came under a wave of threats from North Korea hackers looking for remote jobs in the company.
North Korean IT workers are especially targeting the Coinbase worker’s remote policy to gain access to its sensitive systems.
In response, Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong reiterated the internal security measures of the crypto exchange, including ordering all workers to receive human training in the US, while people with access to sensitive systems are required to handle US citizenship and submit to fingerprinting.
“DPRK is interested in theft of crypto,” Armstrong told Cheeky Pint Podcast host John Collins on a Thursday episode. “We can cooperate with law enforcement (…) but it feels like there are 500 new people who end up every quarter, from some kind of school they have, and that’s their whole job.”
He added that some operatives are forced into working for the regime. “In many of these cases, it is not the individual person’s fault. Their family is forced or confined if they are not cooperating,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong’s comments came amid a wave of increasing cyber activity in North Korea beyond Coinbase.
In June, four North Korea operatives entered many crypto companies as those who developed freelance, stealing a combined $ 900,000 from these Startups, cointelegraph reported.
Related: Bitcoin ETFs are next main target for North Korea hackers – Cyvers
Coinbase data can put users in physical risk
Armstrong’s new steps came three months after the exchange confirmed that less than 1% of transacting monthly users were affected by a breach of datathat may cost to Replace up to $ 400 million At payment costs, Cointelegraph reported on May 15.
However, the “cost of human” of this data violation may be higher for users, according to Michael Arrington, the founder of Techcrunch and Arrington Capital, which Highlighting That violation includes home addresses and account balance, leading to potential physical attacks.
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Among all United States crypto companies, the Coinbase brand was most indicative of phishing attacks in 2024, which was fraudulently used throughout 416 reported phishing scams in the four years, according to a Mailsuite report shared with Cointelegraph.
Accounting for all US brands, Facebook company Meta’s parent, the most impersonated brand of scammers, which appears in at least 10,457 reported scam incidents over the past four years.
The US Internal Revenue Service is the second on the list, introduced to at least 9,762 scams.
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Magazine: Coinbase Hack shows the law that you probably won’t protect – here’s why
