BlockFi Hubspot Data Breach

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BlockFi

BlockFi is a platform which allows users to provide their cryptocurrency and earn a high rate of return, as the platform lends out the funds to other users. The company used HubSpot to assist with managing their customer relationships. HubSpot suffered a data breach and names, email addresses, and phone numbers of customers were leaked. An announcement was made and the employee at the company who enabled the breach has been fired. Customers must be aware for future phishing scams which may target them.

About BlockFi

"BlockFi is a crypto management platform that lets you leverage your cryptocurrency and put it to fair use." "This platform has been around since 2017, and while it’s independently owned, several financial giants like SoFi and Fidelity back it." "At BlockFi, you can earn up to 8.6% interest per year on your cryptocurrency holdings, borrow cash, buy and sell crypto, and access other bank-like services. It’s like an all-in-one crypto bank." "Today, a growing number of users are using BlockFi as a bank for their cryptocurrency. Just like you use Bank of America or a Credit Union for your fiat currency, you can use BlockFi for your cryptocurrency."

"BlockFi [recently] introduced trading at no fees for Bitcoin, Ethereum and the stablecoin GUSD. The startup has been known to allow users access to returns on their cryptocurrency holdings by offering loans to borrowers against users’ cryptocurrency holdings and then passing across the returns in terms of interest on the loans while securing the crypto assets that were used as security for the loans."

"As part of Hubspot being used for CRM and marketing processes, BlockFi stored data that included name, email, and phone number for a majority of our clients."

"As Cointelegraph reported, hackers gained entry to BlockFi’s shopper data that was hosted on Hubspot, a client relationship administration platform."

About HubSpot

"HubSpot provides a customer relationship management (CRM) platform for marketing, sales and content management services."

According to BlockFi: “Hubspot has confirmed that an unauthorized third-party gained entry to certain BlockFi shopper data housed on their platform.”

"On Mar. 19, New Jersey-based crypto financial institution BlockFi proactively confirmed an info breach to warn merchants in regards to the alternative of phishing assaults."

"While specifics on the breached data are however to be acknowledged and revealed, BlockFi reassured prospects by highlighting that personal data — along with passwords, government-issued IDs and social security numbers — “have been certainly not saved on Hubspot.”"

"We are working with Hubspot as the continue their investigation to understand the full scope of impact."

"A 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”."

This exchange or platform is based in United States, or the incident targeted people primarily in United States.

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 - BlockFi 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 18th, 2022 6:47:00 PM MDT	BlockFi Issues Statement on Twitter	BlockFi shares a statement regarding the incident on Twitter. This statement mentions that they learned of a "data incident" and assures that "client funds are safeguarded and were not impacted", and that "account passwords, government-issued ID numbers and social security numbers were never stored on Hubspot".
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 8:17:00 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 11:57:00 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 21st, 2022 5:05:26 PM MDT	Bitcoin Magazine Article	Bitcoin Magazine publishes an article on the Hubspot data breach. They report the unauthorized user with "super admin" access exported contact lists and data, including IP addresses, email histories, customer browsing behavior, financial value, and help tickets. While financial data was not compromised, the loss of user persona and behavioral data is severe, and users should expect spear phishing and spam attacks. Users are advised to be cautious of unsolicited communications and to use privacy best practices when browsing, buying, and communicating online.
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.
April 3rd, 2022 4:28:56 AM MDT	Mentioned In CoinTelegraph Article	The situation is mentioned in a CoinTelegraph article. They mention that "New Jersey-based crypto financial institution BlockFi proactively confirmed a data breach to warn investors about the possibility of phishing attacks." None of the other platforms are included here.

Total Amount Lost

No funds were lost.

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?

BlockFi Issued Public Statement

BlockFi issued a public statement about the breach.

On Friday, March 18, 2022, BlockFi learned of a data incident at one of our third-party vendors, Hubspot, a client relationship management platform. Hubspot has confirmed that an unauthorized third-party gained access to certain BlockFi client data housed on their platform.

To be clear, BlockFi's internal systems and client funds are safeguarded and were not impacted. We can also confirm that BlockFi account passwords, government-issued ID numbers and social security numbers were never stored on Hubspot. The incident occurred at Hubspot and we are notifying you directly so that you can take actions to further protect yourself. No action is needed on your BlockFi account at this time.

The protection and safekeeping of our systems and clients' assets are of the utmost importance. We will continue to keep you updated as this process evolves.

Ultimate Outcome

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

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?

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.

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 all customer data, which requires the approval of multiple people to enable the 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.