Bitcoin ATM Giant Byte Federal Data Breach Affects 58K Users

Data Breach at Byte Federal Potentially Impacts Thousands of Customers

Byte Federal, a leading operator of Bitcoin ATMs within the United States, has reported a potential compromise of personal data belonging to a significant number of its customers.

Details of the Security Incident

According to a notification filed with the Attorney General of Maine, the Florida-based company Byte Federal experienced an attempted data access affecting approximately 58,000 individuals.

The types of personal information potentially exposed include names, residential addresses, contact phone numbers, copies of government-issued identification, Social Security numbers, records of transaction history, and user-submitted photographs.

Timeline and Cause of the Breach

The security breach initially occurred on September 30th. However, its discovery by Byte Federal wasn't made until November 18th.

Investigations revealed that an unauthorized party successfully infiltrated the company’s network. This access was achieved through the exploitation of a security flaw present within a third-party software solution.

Byte Federal previously identified the vulnerable software as GitLab, a widely used developer platform, as detailed in a company blog post from November.

Remedial Actions Taken

Operating a network of over 1,200 Bitcoin ATMs nationwide – facilitating the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies – Byte Federal has taken steps to mitigate the impact of the breach.

• A complete reset of all customer account credentials has been implemented.
• Internal passwords across the company’s systems have been updated.

These measures were undertaken to enhance security and protect customer information following the incident.