Ledger cold wallet faces security issues again! Partner's breach leaks personal data, beware of targeted phishing scams.

Ledger Partner Global-e Hacked, User Data Leaked. Officially Emphasizes Private Key and Fund Security but Reminds Users to Beware of Targeted Phishing Scams.

Ledger Cold Wallet Partner Incident, User Data Breach

French well-known cold wallet manufacturer Ledger reported a cybersecurity incident again yesterday (1/5). Blockchain detective ZachXBT first disclosed that Ledger’s third-party payment processing partner Global-e experienced a data leak, resulting in some users’ personal information being accessed without authorization by unknown individuals.

Image source: X Blockchain detective ZachXBT revealed that Ledger’s third-party payment processing partner Global-e experienced a data leak, leading to unauthorized access to some users’ personal data.

Ledger has always been a leader in the hardware wallet field. Users can store their cryptocurrency private keys offline through Ledger, positioning it as a safer asset custody solution than hot wallets or centralized exchanges. As a result, it has a large retail and institutional user base worldwide. Any security-related issues attract significant attention from the crypto community.

Ledger Confirms Data Theft from Global-e, Emphasizes Fund and Private Key Security

In response to public concerns, Ledger officially confirmed to the media that it received notification from its partner Global-e indicating that order data within their system had been accessed illegally.

Global-e is the merchant of record responsible for handling cross-border transactions on Ledger’s official website. Its cloud database contains some customer information from purchases made on Ledger’s official site.

Ledger spokesperson emphasized that this cybersecurity incident only involved the external e-commerce partner’s information system. Ledger’s own platform, hardware, or software systems were not compromised and remain secure.

Since Ledger products adopt a self-custodial design, Global-e cannot access users’ most critical 24-word recovery phrases, blockchain balances, or any confidential information related to digital assets. Additionally, this incident did not involve any credit card information leaks.

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Ledger Past Security Controversies: 2020 Major Data Leak

The incident involving user data leakage due to a partner has once again drawn attention to Ledger’s previous controversies.

Looking back at 2020, Ledger experienced a serious data breach where hackers successfully infiltrated marketing and e-commerce databases related to the company, exposing personal information of over 270,000 users on the hacker forum RaidForums.

The leaked data was quite detailed, including user names, email addresses, phone numbers, and even some users’ residential addresses, causing widespread concern and dissatisfaction among users. Many victims subsequently received大量 phishing emails and harassment.

Image source: Ledger 2020 large-scale data leak, CEO wrote an open letter to users

Although Ledger offered a Bitcoin bounty to seek information about the attacker, it still faced a class-action lawsuit afterward. The plaintiffs accused Ledger and its e-commerce partner Shopify at the time of failing to provide adequate data protection measures, putting users at risk.

Supply Chain Security Concerns, Ledger Users Should Beware of Phishing

Although it is still unclear whether the scale of this Ledger Global-e incident will reach that of 2020, it will undoubtedly reignite market scrutiny on how cryptocurrency companies and their third-party service providers handle user data.

For hardware wallet companies that regard security as their core competitive advantage, any data breach could impact user confidence.

Cybersecurity experts remind that while users’ Ledger wallet funds are safe, the leaked names and contact information are highly likely to be used for targeted social engineering scams. Users should stay highly alert to any suspicious messages requesting recovery phrases or authorization.

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