Cryptocurrency

Bitfinex users fall for ‘minor’ phishing attack after employee gets hacked

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Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex said it suffered a “minor” information security incident after one of its customer support agents was hacked earlier in the week (Oct. 30 — Nov. 5).

It led to a spree of phishing attacks against Bitfinex users but little damage was done, the firm explained in a Nov. 4 statement.

“A small portion of our customer support boards, which held partial, incomplete and stale information was accessed by an individual or group, through the phishing of a customer support agent.”

Fortunately, the customer support agent didn’t have “senior permissions” and therefore had limited access to supporting tools and help desk tickets, the firm added.

Bitfinex stressed its systems weren’t compromised and no customer funds were lost.

“No server, wallet or database infrastructure was accessed.” Bitfinex added:

“At no time were customer assets on the platform at risk, nor was password information accessible. Most of the affected customer accounts were empty or inactive.

While Bitfinex said the issue is now “resolved,” they’re still reviewing the incident, the compromised information and are reaching out to affected customers.

The firm notified law enforcement of the issue and will be working with investigation authorities to track down the perpetrator behind the phishing attack.

“We have a strong track record of securing successful convictions against individuals who have attempted to attack our operations in the past,” Bitfinex iterated.

The incident happened despite Bitfinex regularly reviewing its security procedures and mandating all employees to undertake cybersecurity training.

Related: Crypto phishing scams: How users can stay protected

Bitfinex was founded in Hong Kong in 2012. Jean-Louis van der Velde has served as the firm’s CEO since 2013.

Bitfinex is ranked 17th in CoinGecko’s “Trust Score” index among all cryptocurrency exchanges. It saw over 800,000 visits on its platform over the last month.

Magazine: Deposit risk: What do crypto exchanges really do with your money?