Coinbase is facing mounting scrutiny after it was revealed that the company may have known about a significant data breach involving outsourced support staff months before publicly disclosing it. The incident has impacted over 69,000 users and stems from a leak linked to a contractor in India.

According to sources close to the matter, the breach originated from a TaskUs employee based in Indore, India — part of a U.S.-based outsourcing firm long used by Coinbase. The employee was allegedly caught taking unauthorized photos of her workstation and sharing sensitive customer data with cybercriminals, reportedly for bribes. The operation appears to have been coordinated, leading to the termination of more than 200 TaskUs employees.

Delayed Disclosure Raises Questions

While Coinbase ultimately cited “overseas support agents” in connection with a $400 million loss, the company waited until May 2025 to formally acknowledge the breach in an SEC filing — months after internal teams became aware. The filing followed a ransom demand, which forced Coinbase to go public with the full extent of the breach.

Internal reports suggest the leak was part of a larger campaign affecting multiple business process outsourcing (BPO) providers tied to Coinbase. Although attackers reportedly didn’t gain direct access to Coinbase’s internal systems, the exposed customer data enabled convincing social engineering attacks, allowing scammers to steal crypto from unsuspecting users.

Legal Fallout and Outsourcing Risks

Coinbase claims all affected customers have been reimbursed and that security protocols have since been overhauled. However, the timeline and lack of early transparency have sparked backlash — and a class-action lawsuit now targets TaskUs for alleged negligence.

While TaskUs denies wrongdoing, critics argue that inadequate oversight and training in offshore support centers may have contributed to the breach. The incident raises broader concerns about the risks of outsourcing sensitive customer interactions to low-wage environments prone to exploitation.

Despite Coinbase’s efforts to contain the damage, the data breach involving an Indian contractor has exposed gaps in its risk management — and sparked a wider conversation about how crypto firms secure their customer data in an increasingly globalized support model.

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