- CryptoTrader.Tax has admitted to a leak of the details of over 1,000 customers in April
- The tax service providers informed affected users at the time but did not make the breach public
- Email addresses and affiliate reward information was stolen
CryptoTrader.Tax, a company that offers tax services to cryptocurrency traders, has seen the data of more than 1,000 customers stolen by hackers. Coindesk reports that the hacker managed to access a CryptoTrader.Tax employee’s account and made off with the email addresses and affiliate reward details. This information was then put up for sale on the dark web. CryptoTrader.Tax did not publicly admit to the leak at the time, and the revelation has only come to light after a source connected to the hacker informed Coindesk about it.
CryptoTrader.Tax Employee Account Compromised
According to the Coindesk source, the hacker infiltrated the customer database via the account of a marketing and customer service employee on a support center platform, downloading the data of more than 1,000 customers. The hacker then posted screenshots of their haul on the dark web in order to encourage buyers, some of which were sent to the source, who passed them on to Coindesk.
The hack itself took place back in early April, with CryptoTrader.Tax contacting the affected individuals at the time but not making the hack public. David Kemmerer, co-founder and CEO of CryptoTrader.Tax, told Coindesk that the hacker downloaded a file containing 13,000 rows of information, including 1,082 names and email addresses, with some affiliate reward information also being revealed.
Withholding Hack Could be a PR Nightmare
Fortunately further details such as payment methods were encrypted by payment processor Stripe, meaning that physical addresses and banking information was secure. Despite this small mercy, the fact that CryptoTrader.Tax didn’t make the hack public knowledge at the time, presumably in order to maintain their public image, may end up working against them now that the story is out.
