The top exchange in the world based on trade volume, Binance, may have had a data breach.
What seems to be confirmed user data from the Binance platform is being offered by a dark web forum.
The message promotes the sale of user phone numbers, nationalities, and names on Binance. If true, there may be serious privacy issues.
The forum post states that English-speaking users from Tier 1 nations make up the majority of the data.
The vendor advises contacting the users personally or trying to log in using their phone numbers on binance.com to confirm the legitimacy of the data.
Although the assertions made on the dark web site are concerning, it is still unclear if the material is legitimate.
The 2019 incident
It is unclear given the available information if the data is accurate or comes from Binance’s systems.
In a related incident from 2019, Binance looked into a possible disclosure of information related to customer verification. At that point, the exchange denied the allegations, pointing out discrepancies in their own data and the absence of any system-generated digital stamp.
According to reports, the 2019 incident featured threats to make 10,000 images that looked like Binance KYC data publicly available until a ransom of 300 BTC was paid; Binance rejected the offer.
The current circumstance casts suspicion on the veracity of the data being sold in light of these earlier incidents.
Such illegal services are well-known on the dark web, and it is still difficult for the impacted organisations and their users to verify the legitimacy and source of such material.
In order to resolve such concerns, Binance has already declared its intention to look into them and collaborate with law enforcement.
