By Richard Hines
Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange firms in the crypto space, has announced its bug bounty program in response to an extortion attempt by a hacker claiming to have sensitive information about Coinbase.
A Blackmail On Coinbase
This hacker communicated with the exchange Coinbase and the crypto news publication Coindesk via emails, claiming to be in possession of sensitive data from the total accounts of users on the crypto exchange; this hacker threatened to release this information to the public if a $450,000 settlement was not made.
However, Coinbase did not follow this sham believing it is not statistically possible to decrypt data entered into the system. Furthermore, the security officer confirmed that there was no detected breach on the system and that this was all a sham perpetrated by the hacker in order to blackmail them into releasing funds.
Coinbase stated it works closely with law enforcement agencies on cases like this, but it is unclear whether charges have been filed against this hacker.
According to the Chief Security Officer, Jeff Lunglhofer, the blackmail was baseless and discovered to be a scam, as the hacker was attempting to falsify information in order to mud the organization and also loot funds in the process.
He went on to say that he is certain Coinbase is not the first company to be tricked by this technique and that the hacker has used it on other companies as well.
Criteria For Bug Bounty Submissions
Due to the recent email threats, Lunglhofer felt compelled to emphasize the importance of the firm’s bug bounty program. A bug bounty program is a monetary incentive given to developers or individuals who notify a company of potential flaws and vulnerabilities in its systems.
He did, however, mention that submissions for this bug bounty program would be thoroughly screened and that those that did not express more details would be discarded.
The firm looks out for submissions on backdoor paths to sensitive data on the system as well as overall system vulnerability.
Once a submission is made and accepted, Coinbase works quickly to correct the flaw before disclosing it to anyone or the public.
Over the course of ten years, the Coinbase bounty program has fixed over 500 bugs and paid out over $400,000 to individuals who discovered these bugs.