Evolve Bank Conceals Massive Data Breach, 33 Terabytes of User Data Exposed Including Bitfinex Users

Evolve Bank and Trust admitted it knew about a theft of 33 terabytes of user data for a month before notifying users, with Bitfinex crypto exchange users among those affected.

Evolve Bank and Trust is a financial institution known for its supportive stance towards cryptocurrency businesses and users. This financial institution offers a range of banking services tailored to the needs of the crypto industry, fostering a positive environment for digital asset transactions and blockchain technology.

A latest report by Protos noted that Evolve Bank and Trust has disclosed about an incident of unauthorised activity leading to the theft of 33 terabytes (TB) of user data for the past month, though it only informed users last week. 

This data breach, linked to the infamous Russia-based ransomware group Lockbit, includes personal information of Bitfinex crypto exchange users.

The issue originated in late May when Evolve’s systems experienced disruptions due to unauthorised activity, which was traced back to an employee accidentally clicking on a malicious link. Despite the bank’s month-long awareness of the breach, users were notified only recently. 

This incident underscores significant cybersecurity weaknesses and the dangers of ransomware attacks, particularly in institutions catering to the cryptocurrency sector.

On this incident, the bank has clarified that the breach was contained swiftly, no ransom was paid, and there has been no further unauthorised activity since the end of May. However, the bank’s delay in notifying affected parties has been a point of contention and highlights the need for improved communication in the event of such incidents.

Crypto Users’ Email Theft

In June of this year, a similar incident was observed by many crypto news platforms. 

As per reports a popular newsletter vendor, widely used by crypto companies, faced a data breach in which a hacker stole nearly 1.9 million contacts of crypto users across different platforms.

The popular crypto tracking website CoinGecko was the first to report on this issue.

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