Crypto exchange has responded to the publically available leaked know-your-customer (KYC) information of its customers, denying any breach of the exchange’s security.
The founder and CEO of the exchange also tweeted, calling the KYC leak a “FUD.” He also assured that the exchange is currently investigating the issue.
Don’t fall into the “KYC leak” FUD. We are investigating, will update shortly.
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance)
FUD or a serious issue?
The chaos within the crypto trading community started when a Telegram channel started to post Binance users’ KYC information including photos, passports, and IDs. The channel also gained thousands of followers in recent hours.
“First and foremost, there are inconsistencies when comparing this data to the data in our system. At the present time, no evidence has been supplied that indicates any KYC images have been obtained from Binance, as these images do not contain the digital watermark
imprinted by our system,” Binace wrote in its official statement.
According to the exchange, the recently leaked KYC information was from a previously leaked data set in early 2018, when the exchange’s KYC process was handled by a third-party vendor.
“On initial review of the images made public, they all appear to be dated from February of 2018, at which time Binance had contracted a third-party vendor for KYC verification in order to handle the high volume of requests at that time,” Binance noted.
“Our security team is hard at work pursuing all possible leads in an attempt to identify the source of these images.”
The exchange also detailed that a perpetrator was trying to extort digital currencies from it and as , the individual published the information in public.
“We would like to inform you that an unidentified individual has threatened and harassed us, demanding 300 BTC in exchange for withholding 10,000 photos that bear similarity to Binance KYC data,” the exchange added.
Meanwhile, the exchange was resulting in the theft of 7,000 Bitcoins.
Be First to Comment