There have been claims about a hacker group breaching the personal data of users from Bitfinex. The company has denied any such claims saying that the customer data is safe. They are carrying out investigations to ensure that no such event has taken place.
Claims regarding rumors of Bitfinex data breach
Bitfinex is a cryptocurrency exchange that is registered in the British Virgin Islands. It was founded in 2012 and has continued to be one of the biggest names of trust in the crypto market. Initially, it was designed to be a Bitcoin P2P exchange but was later modified to accommodate other cryptocurrencies.
It faced a big data heist in 2016 when BTC worth more than $71 million was heisted in a matter of hours. This breach is considered one of the biggest heists in crypto history. Serious flaws in the Bitfinex security protocol were pointed out which were later remedied. Though the thief hasn’t been found, there have been individual developments where the stolen Bitcoins were recovered.
iFinex, the owner company of Bitfinex, commissioned a report to find out the reasons for the heist. The commission found a number of reasons for this happening. There was a recommendation for some operational, financial, and technological controls to ensure that no such event takes place again.
Since then, Bitfinex has continued to be safe for users as no such event has been reported again. But recently some hackers posted mega links about the data breach of Bitfinex. According to hackers, it contained the personal data of the users.
Paolo Ardoino’s response
Bifinex’s CTO responded to the claims regarding the data breach saying that it was nothing but rumors. He said that everyone was panicking about the possibility of the data breach but it seemed fake for a number of reasons.
He mentioned that the hackers have posted mega links that contain a sample of passwords and emails. He refuted the claim that they don’t store passwords in plaintext. In addition to that, nor are 2FA stored in clear text. Furthermore, the 22.5 emails contain only 5K of the Bitfinex users.
He added further that if the emails were from their database, they would have matched 100%. In contrast, it is the opposite and makes sure that no data breach has taken place.
Also, the hackers had posted about the data breach on 25 April 2024 but no one contacted the Bitfinex team regarding ransom. Paolo is of the view that if they had data they would have asked for ransom in the possible options available.
He also chided data security experts for hyping the matter without getting enough information. He said that these emails are possibly from different crypto breaches that the hackers have collected to get hype for their claims.
No need to panic
Paolo Ardoino added consoling words for the customers saying that they don’t need to panic and no such breach has taken place. He said that they had analyzed their system and no such evidence regarding the breach was found. Furthermore, they were performing a deep analysis which will confirm whether any data has been lost to hackers.
He assured the users that it was a FUD and they would ensure that no stone remained unturned to ensure the security of the platform.
Conclusion
Bitfinex CTO has refuted the claims of a possible data breach. He assured the users that no such event had taken place and there was no proof regarding the data breach. His arguments were solid and he assured that they will continue investigations about the matter.