Circle HubSpot Data Breach

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Circle

Circle is one of the most well-known companies, a key backer of the USDC stablecoin. They were reportedly among those companies affected by the Hubspot data breach. They let customers know by email and also issued some public statements. There have been no specific reports of Circle clients or customers being targeted subsequently.

About Circle

"Circle is a global financial technology firm that’s at the center of digital currency innovation and open financial infrastructure. We bridge the traditional financial system and the world’s leading public blockchains to unlock growth for businesses and investors around the world."

"Most individuals don’t understand the power of a CRM. At minimum, these tools allow companies to acquire, sort and manage incoming customers (and their data) in a way that provides the best user experience. At maximum, these tools are capable of an extreme degree of web monitoring and AI-based user segmentation and prediction."

"Multiple Web3 and crypto companies have been affected by a data breach at HubSpot, a marketing and sales platform that stores customer information."

About HubSpot

"On March 15, a bad actor conducted a social engineering attack against a HubSpot employee that captured the employee’s credentials and persuaded the employee to provide the necessary multi-factor authentication. Between March 15 and March 17, the bad actor conducted reconnaissance within HubSpot’s internal systems. On March 17 and March 18, the bad actor exported contact data and user data from certain HubSpot customer accounts via an internal support tool called just-in-time-access (or JITA)."

"HubSpot said on Saturday (19 March) that it became aware of a compromised employee account the previous day. The company believes data was exported from around 30 of its clients, “all of whom have been notified”."

"The breach has rippled through the crypto industry: As of Monday, crypto lending platform BlockFi, bitcoin-purchasing automation platform Swan Bitcoin, bitcoin company NYDIG, peer-to-peer payments technology company Circle and cryptocurrency fund Pantera Capital (which was hit a month prior) had been affected."

"Adam Healy, chief security officer at BlockFi, said that vendors like HubSpot who are “trusted with client information” are “subjected to a number of reviews.”"

"“However, even in those cases, vendors can make mistakes and as evidenced by Friday’s events have incidents that impact us and our clients,” Healy said in a statement sent to Blockworks."

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Circle HubSpot Data Breach

Date	Event	Description
March 15th, 2022	Social Engineering Attack	On March 15th, at an unspecified time, a HubSpot employee fell victim to a social engineering attack which persuaded the employee to provide the necessary credentials and multi-factor authentication.
March 17th, 2022	Client Data Exported	It is reported by Hubspot that contact data and user data was exported on March 17th and March 18th through an internal support tool called "just-in-time access" (or JITA).
March 18th, 2023 7:00:00 AM MDT	Hubspot Realized Breach	HubSpot reports they first "became aware of this unauthorized activity. [They] took prompt action to shut down the bad actor’s access and investigate its impact."
March 19th, 2022	Hubspot Issues Press Release FAQ	According to HubSpot's website, they published the statement and FAQ on March 19th. (No time is provided and the page was not captured by archive until the following day.) The state that "[o]n March 18, a bad actor compromised a HubSpot employee account and used it to access data within fewer than 30 HubSpot accounts." Hubspot also set up a public FAQ page on their website to provide more information. They report the breach exporting contact data from fewer than 30 HubSpot portals, all of which have been notified. HubSpot believes the incident to be targeted at customers in the cryptocurrency industry and has taken measures to terminate access for the compromised employee account and prevent other employees from taking certain actions in customer accounts. Customers who have been impacted by the breach should contact their respective companies for information about what data was shared and any necessary steps they need to take.
March 21st, 2022 8:16:00 AM MDT	CrowdFundInsider Reports on Breach	According to an email distributed by Circle, HubSpot has “confirmed that an unauthorized bad actor accessed certain client data from several companies, including Circle, housed on their platform after a HubSpot employee account was compromised.” Circle notes that their internal systems were not impacted and personal information like a social security number or government ID information was not accessed. Circle adds that KYC and financial information were not stolen either.
March 21st, 2022 8:17:00 AM MDT	CoinDesk Article Published	CoinDesk publishes an article on the incident. They report that a data breach at third-party marketing vendor HubSpot has impacted BlockFi, Swan Bitcoin, NYDIG, and Circle, among others, who maintain their customers' funds are still safe and secure. While user information was leaked to hackers, the affected companies said passwords and other internal information were not affected. HubSpot has not disclosed the full extent of the breach, and an investigation is ongoing. This is copied to Yahoo Finance.
March 21st, 2022 10:53:00 AM MDT	Cory Klippsten Criticism	Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten criticizes the industry since close to 30 companies appear to have been breached and fewer than 10 have disclosed it publicly. He announces that his company is severing relations.
March 21st, 2022 11:38:00 AM MDT	Benzinga Article Published	Benzinga publishes an article on the Circle data breach. "The hacked data concerns aspects of browsing activity and interest in the company's products and account manager's name (only when applicable) — but only of those users who opted in to receiving marketing communications from the stablecoin operator." The company wrote: "Phishing may be done using email, phone calls, voicemail or text messages. In each case, the goal is to lure you into revealing confidential information such as bank account numbers, credit card information, Social Security numbers or passwords."
March 21st, 2022 11:57:00 AM MDT	Blockworks Article Published	Blockworks publishes an article on the situation. They reported multiple crypto companies were affected including NYDIG, Pantera Capital, BlockFi, Circle and Swan Bitcoin. They report that Pantera Capital was breached a month earlier, and reference a Tweet from a breach a year and a month ago. The data breach saw user information leaked to hackers, but not passwords or sensitive personal information. It is believed to have been a “targeted incident focused on customers in the cryptocurrency industry”. Affected companies maintain customer funds are still safe and secure, and are monitoring the situation closely. The full extent of the HubSpot hack is still unknown and the investigation is reportedly still ongoing.
March 22nd, 2022 3:10:55 AM MDT	Silicon Republic Article	Silicon Republic reports that cryptocurrency companies, including Swan Bitcoin, BlockFi, NYDIG, Pantera Capital, and Circle, were among the 30 affected by a data breach at marketing and sales platform HubSpot. The company confirmed that a “bad actor” compromised an employee account and exported contact data from a small number of customer accounts. While it is unclear what the attacker planned to do with the information, phishing emails have been reported attempting to trick users into submitting their passwords into a fake company website.
March 24th, 2022 11:11:00 AM MDT	ThreatPost Article Published	ThreatPost publishes an article on the situation. They report that HubSpot, a marketing platform used by over 135,000 customers, suffered a data breach due to a rogue employee who targeted the company's cryptocurrency customers. At least 30 crypto firms were affected, including BlockFi, Swan Bitcoin, Circle, and NYDIG. The stolen data included contact data, names, emails, account types, phone numbers, and in some cases, company names. While there was no loss of sensitive financial or personal data, such as Social Security numbers or tax IDs, there was the inclusion of a "limited historical snapshot of USD deposits" and about 1.2% of the dataset included clients' intended investment areas or the median net worth of their approximate geographic locales.

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost is unknown.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Circle Email To Affected Users

Circle distributed an email to customers. TBD need to find full email.

confirmed that an unauthorized bad actor accessed certain client data from several companies, including Circle, housed on their platform after a HubSpot employee account was compromised. We are notifying you so that you can take actions to protect yourself. We encourage you to monitor your accounts on a regular basis, use strong passwords and remain vigilant against phishing attempts and other suspicious activity. Phishing may be done using email, phone calls, voicemail, or text messages. In each case, the goal is to lure you into revealing confidential information such as bank account numbers, credit card information, Social Security numbers or passwords.

"Circle, the financial services firm that issued the dollar-linked stablecoin, said in a statement to Blockworks that financial transaction data was not “impacted by the security incident.”"

"Circle declared in a recent statement that the breach of a HubSpot employee account resulted in bad actors obtaining the contact information. The hacked data concerns aspects of browsing activity and interest in the company's products and account manager's name (only when applicable) — but only of those users who opted in to receiving marketing communications from the stablecoin operator."

"According to an email distributed by Circle, HubSpot has “confirmed that an unauthorized bad actor accessed certain client data from several companies, including Circle, housed on their platform after a HubSpot employee account was compromised.”"

"“We have communicated with the affected parties and will follow up with them on any material developments as we continue to monitor and investigate the incident,” a Circle spokesperson told Blockworks."

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

"The investigation of the bad actor’s activity confirmed that this was a targeted attack focused on customers in the cryptocurrency industry. There was no evidence of suspicious activity within targeted customer accounts after March 18, 2022."

"While it is unclear what the attacker planned to do with this information, Coindesk reported that some users saw an uptick in phishing emails over the weekend, attempting to lure them into putting their passwords into a fake company website."

"Circle tells prospective users: “We are notifying you so that you can take actions to protect yourself. We encourage you to monitor your accounts on a regular basis, use strong passwords and remain vigilant against phishing attempts and other suspicious activity. Phishing may be done using email, phone calls, voicemail, or text messages. In each case, the goal is to lure you into revealing confidential information such as bank account numbers, credit card information, Social Security numbers or passwords.”"

"[The] rogue employee working at HubSpot – used by more than 135,000 (and growing) customers to manage marketing campaigns and on-board new users – has been fired over a breach that zeroed in on the company’s cryptocurrency customers, the company confirmed on Friday."

"A full list of the affected clients has not been published, but [HubSpot] said it appeared to be a “targeted incident focused on customers in the cryptocurrency industry”."

"Since the incident, we have taken steps to enhance our security and to prevent a similar attack from occurring in the future. While our investigation has concluded and remediation completed, we remain committed to improving our security through regular assessments and testing."

"Hubspot says it's around 30 crypto companies in the hack. Fewer than 10 have divulged so far."

Hubspot reported upgrading security on their FAQ:

Since the incident, we have taken steps to enhance our security and to prevent a similar attack from occurring in the future. While our investigation has concluded and remediation completed, we remain committed to improving our security through regular assessments and testing.

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

General Prevention Policies

Privacy-conscious customers can set up separate email addresses for each service easily, and avoid providing their phone number when possible. Any received emails must be viewed with scrutiny. Interact with companies only through their official websites and confirm anything with the company directly if it promises a significant reward or threatens access to your funds.

Platforms should put in place multi-signature access control on customer data, which requires the approval of multiple people to enable the mass download of data.

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.