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This week, KYC (Know Your Customer) data, allegedly stolen from one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Binance, began to circulate on the network. In particular, unknown persons created a Telegram channel, which attracted more than 10,000 subscribers, and shared more than 400 images of people with passports and identity cards there. The photo shows users from France, Turkey, USA, Japan, Russia and other countries of the world.
Binance representatives have already released an official statement explaining what is happening. As it turned out, unknown attackers tried to blackmail the exchange recently, demanding a 300 BTC ransom (about $ 3.5 million). Otherwise, the blackmailers threatened to release 10,000 photos, "which resemble Binance KYC data."
The exchange representatives refused to pay the cybercriminals, and Binance employees are still investigating a possible incident, and also trying to establish whether there was at least some truth in the statements of the blackmailers.
The fact is that the KYC data circulating in the network raises many questions. Comparing this information with the data of their systems, the representatives of the exchange found many inconsistencies. For example, the images do not have the digital watermarks that Binance uses, and so far, exchange officials have not found any evidence that these images are related to Binance KYC at all.
According to preliminary data, all images appear to be dated February 2018. It was then that Binance entered into a contract with a third-party contractor to review and process a large number of KYC requests. The exchange is currently investigating with this third-party contractor and law enforcement, promising to keep users informed.
So far, Binance experts believe that the published dataset is not new at all, and the media wrote about this leak at the beginning of this year. Then the hacker also claimed that he had information about the KYC of several cryptocurrency exchanges at once, but refused to provide any proof of his words.
Binance currently offers rewards of up to 25 BTC (depending on the relevance of the data) for any information that will help identify an unknown ransomware and turn it over to law enforcement.
Binance representatives have already released an official statement explaining what is happening. As it turned out, unknown attackers tried to blackmail the exchange recently, demanding a 300 BTC ransom (about $ 3.5 million). Otherwise, the blackmailers threatened to release 10,000 photos, "which resemble Binance KYC data."
The exchange representatives refused to pay the cybercriminals, and Binance employees are still investigating a possible incident, and also trying to establish whether there was at least some truth in the statements of the blackmailers.
The fact is that the KYC data circulating in the network raises many questions. Comparing this information with the data of their systems, the representatives of the exchange found many inconsistencies. For example, the images do not have the digital watermarks that Binance uses, and so far, exchange officials have not found any evidence that these images are related to Binance KYC at all.
According to preliminary data, all images appear to be dated February 2018. It was then that Binance entered into a contract with a third-party contractor to review and process a large number of KYC requests. The exchange is currently investigating with this third-party contractor and law enforcement, promising to keep users informed.
So far, Binance experts believe that the published dataset is not new at all, and the media wrote about this leak at the beginning of this year. Then the hacker also claimed that he had information about the KYC of several cryptocurrency exchanges at once, but refused to provide any proof of his words.
Binance currently offers rewards of up to 25 BTC (depending on the relevance of the data) for any information that will help identify an unknown ransomware and turn it over to law enforcement.
