Coinbase Denies Reports of Data Breach, Addresses Security Concerns
01 April, 2014
San Francisco-based bitcoin wallet provider Coinbase formally responded to community concerns relating to a design function of its “Request Money” service on 1st April amid reports that suggested this service could be misused by phishers and fraudsters.
The response was issued after a PasteBin entry surfaced suggesting that roughly 2,000 Coinbase customer names and emails were compromised as part of a “data breach” of the site, rumors that caused widespread speculation on reddit and social media.
Speaking to CoinDesk, the company clarified that though certain user personal information was posted online, the event was not a data breach, but rather an exploitation of a feature common to popular tech services. Malicious users, it noted, can use an email address to determine if someone has an account on other payment services such as PayPal, Square Cash and Venmo, a process called email enumeration.