Binance will provide lifetime VIP accounts to all affected by data leak

The largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance has published updated information regarding the leak of user data.

Update & Action Response: Third-Party Vendor KYC Matter

Protecting our users and keeping #Binance systems secure is our utmost priority. https://t.co/1xz48JLmxF

– Binance (@binance) August 23, 2019

Marketplace representatives emphasized that work on the solution to the problem continues and over the past few weeks, the Binance team has been diligently searching for “a source of leakage of KYC images that are similar to Binance KYC images published by an unidentified hacker.”

“The latest results of the investigation indicate that some leaked images coincide with images processed by a third-party service provider, which Binance accessed several times from the beginning of December 2017 to the end of February 2018,” representatives of the popular exchange said.

However, the investigation revealed a lot of edited images that did not match those stored in the Binance database. Also, the images did not include a digital watermark affixed by the exchange.

Binance emphasized that they are using reliable measures to protect user assets and data, including an updated KYC verification system and artificial intelligence based face recognition, launched in 2018. In addition, the exchange stores customer personal data with the help of advanced information protection technology, modernized in 2019.

“We are actively contacting potential victims, giving them recommendations for protecting confidential information, and discussing the possibility of redress. We also strongly recommend that affected users receive new documents in their regions, ” Binance emphasized.

The exchange promised users to provide lifelong VIP accounts in compensation, including “preferential trading commissions, support and other services”. Binance also encouraged affected customers to contact support to resolve damage claims.

Recall that in early August, information spread over the network that “thousands of KYC data” from Binance users were in one of the Telegram messenger groups.

Later, representatives of the exchange said that a certain "unidentified person threatened and terrorized" the company, demanding 300 BTC. Binance refused to cooperate with the blackmailer and he soon began to disseminate data on the network.

After some time, a hacker under the pseudonym Bnatov Platon in a conversation with the publication CoinDesk said that he was able to track down the attackers who hacked Binance in May, and that he had at his disposal 60,000 files with the KYC data of the exchange users.

Follow BlockchainJournal on Twitter !