Major US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is facing more criticism stemming from a recent hack incident after it turned out that it had outsourced customer support to TaskUs, a third-party contractor in India.
Adam Cochran of Cinneamhain Ventures has criticized the company for using contractors instead of their direct employees.
On Monday, Reuters reported that a TaskUS employee was caught taking photos of her computer in order to potentially sell Coinbase’s customer data.
This turned out to be part of a coordinated campaign, with a total of 200 employees being fired in response.
Coinbase knew about the breach in January, according to the sources cited by Reuters. However, the incident was disclosed only in May.
Coinbase has estimated that it could take a $400 million hit from the security breach. The incident could also attract close regulatory scrutiny.
The hackers were demanding a $20 million payment to cover up the incident, but Coinbase refused to cave in to the extortion attempt.
