BuyUCoin Data Breach

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BuyUCoin

BuyUCoin failed to protect the private data of customers, and this was breached by hackers. The company initially denied the incident.

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

About BuyUCoin

"Founded in July 2016, BuyUcoin is a crypto wallet and exchange platform where merchants and consumers can transact with digital assets like Bitcoin, ethereum, ripple etc." "Based out of Delhi-NCR, the company claims it has over 3.5 lakh customers and has helped them trade in over $500 million to date."

"Buyucoin, a Delhi NCR-based cryptocurrency exchange, has reportedly been hacked. The exchange has more than 350K registered users and has facilitated over $500 million in cryptocurrency trades, according to its website. Several local news outlets reported that sensitive data of about 325K customers has been dumped onto the dark web."

"In yet another data breach, sensitive data of nearly 3.25 lakh users of India-based global cryptocurrency exchange and wallet, BuyUcoin, have been exposed on the Dark Web." "The data leaked include names, e-mails, mobile numbers, encrypted passwords, user wallet details, order details, bank details, KYC details (PAN number, passport numbers) and deposit history." "In total, the alleged data dump comprises of three separate archives, with the associated dates of June 1, July 14, and September 5, 2020."

"According to independent cyber security researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia, the 6GB file on MongoDB database contains three backup files containing BuyUcoin data."

"This is a serious hack as key financial, banking and KYC details have been leaked on the Dark Web," Rajaharia told IANS and shared some screenshots of the leaked data.

"Researchers at cyber security firm Kela Research and Strategy Ltd first discovered the stolen data, linked on the same forum, from Wongnai Media Co Ltd, Tuned Global Pvt Ltd, BuyUcoin, Wappalyzer, Teespring Inc and Bonobos.com, which looks the handiwork of infamous hacking group ShinyHunters."

"Israel-based darknet threat intelligence provider KELA confirmed the leak to the publication. The firm’s threat intelligence analyst Victoria Kivilevich explained that “These records are now circulating on the dark web and available for use by other cyber criminals.” She added that they can use the data for anything from “phishing scams to gaining admin privileges and access into corporate networks if corporate credentials have been leaked.”"

"In a statement updated on January 21, BuyUcoin said the organization is "thoroughly investigating each and every aspect" of the report. The Indian cryptocurrency exchange added that "all our user's portfolio assets are safe and sound within a secure environment" and "95% of user funds are kept in cold storage.""

"Since reports of the security breach emerged, Buyucoin has released two official statements on the matter. The first was written by its CEO, Shivam Thakral. He wrote: “In the mid of 2020, while conducting a routine testing exercise with dummy data, we faced a ‘low impact security incident’ in which non-sensitive, dummy data of only 200 entries were impacted. We would like to clarify that not even a single customer was affected during the incident.”"

Rajaharia responded to the exchange’s official statement in a tweet: “Such an irresponsible statement by Buyucoin. I am your registered and KYC verified user. You leaked my own data too. Please change your statement asap. What if someone used my account in any illegal activity. Please inform your users right now.”

"The Buyucoin CEO’s message was subsequently replaced with a different one by the exchange. “Regarding the media report,” Buyucoin wrote."

"We are thoroughly investigating each and every aspect of the report about malicious and unlawful cybercrime activities by foreign entities in mid-2020."

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

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 - BuyUCoin Data Breach

Date	Event	Description
January 21st, 2021	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

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?

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?

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.