Coinone warns of phishing, identity theft after customer data breach

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinone has cautioned customers about phishing attempts and identity theft following a data breach. The breach occurred after an attacker compromised servers operated by MetaM, an external provider, and accessed customer support records. Coinone discovered the breach on the same day of the attack.

The potentially exposed information includes personal details such as names, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, bank account numbers, passwords, national identification numbers, home and wallet addresses, and transaction IDs. However, Coinone clarified that not all customers were affected, as the impacted data varies from individual to individual.

Customers who had previously provided passwords during support interactions are particularly at risk, as fraudsters could impersonate Coinone using information obtained from prior conversations. The exchange has urged affected customers to change their passwords and warned of the potential for fraud. Coinone's trading, account, and wallet infrastructure remains separate from MetaM's servers and has not been compromised.

The company has reported the incident to South Korean authorities, who are actively strengthening financial-sector cybersecurity. This incident follows a recent report by the Financial Services Commission, which identified security deficiencies at 130 out of 555 financial firms reviewed. In response to the growing concerns, the regulator announced that crypto exchanges will be allowed to suspend withdrawals when hacking is suspected, and they are now advocating for round-the-clock monitoring to prevent such breaches.