Most active commenters

    ←back to thread

    Coinbase says hackers bribed staff to steal customer data, demanding $20M ransom

    (www.cnbc.com)
    410 points gpi | 13 comments | 15 May 25 15:52 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
    Show context
    thepasswordis ◴[15 May 25 16:40 UTC] No.43996769[source]▶
    The problem is that it seems like the data that leaked is also the data that would be used to do account recovery.

    And what that means is that

    1) If you lose access to your account (through either your own fault, or coinbases fault) that the process of recovering it may not be so straightforward anymore.

    2) Hackers can try to “recover” accounts now using this leaked info.

    This is a huge problem. What coinbase needs are IRL offices where you can go and do things like account recovery, and where people trying to steal money can be caught and prosecuted (and makes a huge barrier for the overseas thieves who are usually doing this)

    The only solution here is: hardware 2 factor like yubikeys.

    replies(9): >>43996798 #>>43998374 #>>43998426 #>>43999299 #>>43999324 #>>43999430 #>>43999499 #>>43999782 #>>44001348 #
    SimianSci ◴[15 May 25 19:21 UTC] No.43998374[source]▶
    The Crypto industry continues their speedrun of rediscovering all of the reasons for why the global financial system exists.

    What you've described is the same thing that many Crypto enthusiasts call a "Bank"

    replies(3): >>43998471 #>>43999321 #>>43999346 #
    1. woah ◴[15 May 25 21:04 UTC] No.43999321[source]▶
    Coinbase is identical to a bank because it holds customer funds. Your comment isn't quite the dunk you think it is. Blockchains allow money to be held anonymously without any banks involved. Centralized exchanges are just profiting on speculation and probably should be banned.
    replies(2): >>43999368 #>>43999464 #
    2. scarface_74 ◴[15 May 25 21:08 UTC] No.43999368[source]▶
    My money in the bank in case of fraud is protected unless I voluntarily gave the fraudster my money. If a bank goes bankrupt, my money is protected by the government
    replies(1): >>44004345 #
    3. AStonesThrow ◴[15 May 25 21:22 UTC] No.43999464[source]▶
    No they don’t. “Cryptocurrency” isn’t money at all. Just because you can trade it in for money, doesn’t make it so. I can also trade in my hat to the Buffalo Exchange for money. But my hat is not money.
    replies(4): >>44000015 #>>44000114 #>>44000919 #>>44002006 #
    4. woah ◴[15 May 25 22:28 UTC] No.44000015[source]▶
    There is no bright line separating "money" from any other type of fungible asset
    replies(1): >>44000665 #
    5. yieldcrv ◴[15 May 25 22:44 UTC] No.44000114[source]▶
    what's more important to me is how quickly can you trade your hat, how quickly can you determine the marketable value of your hat for selling, how close in value can you buy that hat for the same price you sold it, how many hats can you buy or sell at that price?

    and that's where hats fail in all metrics to cryptocurrency and how cryptocurrency satisfies my criteria for money

    replies(1): >>44000831 #
    6. AStonesThrow ◴[16 May 25 00:24 UTC] No.44000665{3}[source]▶
    Except for, you know, being able to spend it where you buy things? And deposit it into an actual bank? Those seem sort of intrinsic to how we use money today.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender

    replies(1): >>44003896 #
    7. bbarnett ◴[16 May 25 00:57 UTC] No.44000831{3}[source]▶
    Any publicly traded stock is the same as your critetia, yet it isn't money either.
    replies(1): >>44006029 #
    8. djrj477dhsnv ◴[16 May 25 01:12 UTC] No.44000919[source]▶
    I am paid my salary in crypto. I pay my rent in crypto. I pay for flights and car rentals in crypto. That's surely enough to be considered money.
    9. wmf ◴[16 May 25 05:08 UTC] No.44002006[source]▶
    Yeah, it would be more accurate to say that Coinbase is de facto a brokerage but does not have the same level of regulation as traditional brokerages. The result is the same though.
    10. Ukv ◴[16 May 25 11:04 UTC] No.44003896{4}[source]▶
    > > There is no bright line [...]

    > Except for, you know, being able to spend it where you buy things? [...]

    The extent to which you can use it to buy things is a good metric, but I think that comes in varying degrees rather than being a sharp line or binary true/false. There are at least some things you can buy with cryptocurrency, and arguably there are some forms of "regular" (fiat, national, government-issued) money that aren't very widely accepted.

    11. csomar ◴[16 May 25 11:59 UTC] No.44004345[source]▶
    First one might be kind true in the US. Second one is only true up to $250k and how much Yellen likes you. But they are not true around the world and probably for most of it.
    replies(1): >>44004627 #
    12. scarface_74 ◴[16 May 25 12:30 UTC] No.44004627{3}[source]▶
    By law yes it’s only $250K. But when the banks collapsed last year, the government made sure that no one lost money. In fact, no one has ever lost money because of an FDIC insured bank failure.
    13. yieldcrv ◴[16 May 25 14:36 UTC] No.44006029{4}[source]▶
    publicly traded stock is not liquid or fungible enough for my criteria actually

    but it could be, especially if it was tokenized