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The attackers reportedly attempted to bribe customer support agents, but Binance and Kraken's internal systems blocked these attempts.
Binance and Kraken, two of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, recently suffered a wave of social engineering attacks similar to the ONE attack that led to the major data breach at Coinbase.
Hackers contacted customer support agents with offers of bribes and detailed instructions on how to contact the attackers via Telegram, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the situation. Both exchanges managed to block the attacks without losing any customer data.
Exchanges have faced tactics mirroring those used against Coinbase (COIN), which earlier this week announced it planned to pay $180 million to $400 million in remediation costs and customer refunds after attackers gained access to their personal information.
This breach resulted in a $20 million ransom demand after the attackers managed to bribe overseas Coinbase employees/contractors to obtain customer information. The exchange fired the employees involved and contacted law enforcement.
At Binance, internal systems, including artificial intelligence bots, helped detect bribery-related messages, stopping conversations before they escalated. Policies restricting access to customer data unless users initiate contact also helped mitigate the risk.
Unusual activity on Coinbase reportedly began in January, and in December last year, competing exchanges began warning the company about unusual activity targeting its largest clients.
