On Nov. 19, Coinsquare had to temporarily shut down operations to investigate an unusual activity on its platform.
Coinsquare experienced a data breach that exposed user information just one month after becoming the first Canadian cryptocurrency trading platform to be registered with the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).
On November 19, Coinsquare had to briefly halt operations in order to look into some strange activities on their system. Nevertheless, preemptive efforts taken over several days allowed the crypto exchange to gradually resume operations.
In a follow-up email to investors, Coinsquare acknowledged that the incident exposed their customer database, which most likely allowed a third party access. Users’ names, email addresses, residence addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, device IDs, public wallet addresses, transaction histories, and account balances were all included in the database that had been compromised. Further confirming that no passwords were disclosed, the crypto exchange added that:
“We note that your assets have always been, and remain, secure in cold storage and are not at risk.”
The official message warns users to change their passwords, enable 2-Factor Authentication (2FA), and use different credentials for multiple sites, even if the exchange has not discovered any malicious actors gaining access to the compromised information.
The lengthy approval process by local regulators allowed Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Bitvo to withdraw from its acquisition agreement with FTX. The company stressed that because Bitvo has no material exposure to FTX or any of its connected firms, its operations have not been impacted.
