In May, cryptocurrency giant Coinbase revealed a major data breach that affected more than 69,000 customers – its biggest security failure to date. The breach, which could cost the company up to $400 million, happened after hackers bribed customer service workers in India to leak sensitive data, according to a report in Fortune.
The role of outsourcing
The hackers targeted employees of TaskUs, a US-based company that provides customer service support to major tech firms. TaskUs has a large presence in India, and its agents in Indore handled support for Coinbase since 2017. In January, TaskUs laid off over 200 Indian staff working for Coinbase – just weeks after the data theft was discovered.
TaskUs salaries in India are not high – often between $500 and $700 a month. Due to low salaries, some workers in India were persuaded to hand over confidential…
