Pocket Bitcoin Breach Exposes Customers' Real-World Identities
A Swiss non-custodial Bitcoin service called Pocket Bitcoin experienced a breach in August. The company recently disclosed that the incident exposed more than just email addresses and support conversations for its customers, as initially thought. In fact, for 291 of them, it revealed real-world identities linked to public Bitcoin activity.
The finding expands on an earlier disclosure made by Pocket Bitcoin on August 21. A subsequent update on August 31 revealed that correspondence with partner banks contained varying combinations of sensitive information, including names, postal addresses, Bitcoin addresses used for transactions, and even identity-document copies.
While the exposed records do not grant attackers control over customers' wallets, they still pose a risk to those affected. This is because public Bitcoin addresses can be easily looked up on the blockchain, making it possible for anyone with an address to inspect its balance and transaction history.