Malta-based Binance, world’s largest crypto exchange, blackmailed over KYC data theft

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The relevant law enforcement agencies have been contacted and we will be working closely with them to pursue this person

An unnamed person is reportedly demanding 300 bitcoin (currently worth around $3.5 million) from Malta-based exchange Binance. The blackmailer is, according to a statement from Binance, will continue releasing 10,000 photos related to alleged stolen KnowYour-Customer (KYC) data in January if it fails to pay up.

In a statement, Binance said it’s investigating the case for ‘legitimacy and relevancy’, but noted that there are ‘inconsistencies’ with the published data, compared to the information in their 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,” the Binance security team note.

It was reported back in January that a hacker, known as ExploitDOT, had posted a message including 26 links to groups of photos that had allegedly been stolen from exchanges such as Binance and Kraken.

“After refusing to cooperate and continuing with this extortion, this individual has begun distributing the data to the public and to media outlets,” Binance said in its statement.

Binance said that the images released so far appear to be dated from February, when the exchange had contracted with a third-party vendor for KYC verification to deal with the high volume of requests at that time.

“When asked to prove the source of the data, the individual demanded 300 BTC and refused to supply irrefutable evidence of their findings,” Binance said in its statement.

Binance is offering a reward of 25 bitcoin for information leading to the arrest of the hacker or hackers, “dependent on the relevance of the data supplied.”

Binance said: “The hacker also claims he has KYC information from multiple exchanges. When asked to prove the source of the data, the individual demanded 300 BTC and refused to supply irrefutable evidence of their findings. Later, they went to the press under false pretences, posing as a white hat with good intentions.

“The relevant law enforcement agencies have been contacted and we will be working closely with them to pursue this person.”