IIROC-registered Crypto Exchange Coinsquare Suffers Data Breach

IIROC-registered Canadian crypto exchange Coinsquare suffered a data breach that compromised users' personal information.

The leaked database included users' personal information, such as names, email addresses, residential addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, device IDs, public wallet addresses, transaction history, and account balances.

In an email sent to its users last weekend, Coinsquare confirmed that "No passwords were exposed", adding that: "We note that your assets have always been, and remain, secure in cold storage and are not at risk."

Earlier on Nov. 20, the exchange tweeted: "We detected unusual activity on our platform and out of an abundance of caution, we decided to undergo an unscheduled maintenance period while we address this issue."

In a follow-up email to investors, Coinsquare admitted that their customer database with personal information was exposed during the incident, which a third party most likely accessed.

While the exchange has not detected any bad actors from accessing the breached information, the official communication cautions users to change their passwords, enable 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) and use different credentials for different platforms.

The "unscheduled maintenance" of Coinsquare raised concerns of its possible liquidity issues when the crypto industry was reeling from the effects of FTX's bankruptcy​. 

Earlier this month, the crypto company FTX filed for bankruptcy protection after losing millions of dollars in users' funds in a cyber attack.