Former Coinbase support agent apprehended over insider breach

The Register reports that Indian law enforcement was confirmed by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong to have arrested one of its former customer service agents bribed into providing almost 70,000 customer records that were then used to compromise the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange last December.

Other overseas support agents implicated in the hack which involved the theft of Coinbase clients' names, phone numbers, home and email addresses, government ID images, masked Social Security numbers, account details, and bank account information, as well as some corporate data are also set to be apprehended, said Armstrong in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Armstrong's post has been slammed for inadequately protecting its customers amid mounting data security troubles, with Coinbase previously reported to have purportedly failed to assist clients affected by account takeover attacks. Such a development comes weeks after Coinbase disclosed its support of the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office investigation and indictment of Ronald Spektor over the theft of almost $16 million from the platform.