Key takeaways:
- Unauthorized users could look over customer support tickets submitted by MetaMask users after gaining access to a third party’s computer system that handled customer service requests.
- These tickets just requested the information required to assist the user, including an email address to allow for replies.
It’s possible that certain MetaMask users’ email addresses were made public due to a recently discovered cyber-security issue. According to parent company ConsenSys, the issue only affected MetaMask users who submitted a support ticket between August 1, 2021, and February 10, 2023.
Following the April 14 blog post, unauthorized actors may have viewed customer support tickets sent by MetaMask users after accessing a third-party computer system that handled customer assistance requests.
These tickets just requested the information required to assist the user, including an email address to allow for replies. They did, however, feature a free text field, which some users might have utilized to enter their personal data. This might have included “economic or financial information, name, surname, date of birth, phone number, and postal address,” the statement said.
Although Consensys clarified that it does not request personally identifying information during client chats, some people might have done so despite that. According to corporate estimations, up to 7,000 MetaMask users who submitted customer support tickets may have been impacted by the hack.
A user is tricked into giving sensitive information to an attacker through phishing. It frequently involves sending the victim an email that appears to be from a reliable source or someone they know.
Consensys claimed that it had taken measures to prevent future unauthorized access. As a result, the problem shouldn’t impact citations issued after February 10. To disclose the breach, they also contacted the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK and the Data Protection Commission in Ireland. In addition, a cyber-security and forensics team collaborates with the company’s third-party customer service provider to conduct a more thorough event assessment.
In the latter half of 2022, after revealing that it occasionally recorded users’ IP addresses, MetaMask came under fire from privacy groups. As a result, it upgraded its app in March to give customers more discretion over which providers may get this information.
On February 12, the web hosting company NameCheap discovered that some spam emails had been sent directly to MetaMask customers via one of their third-party services. The incident was described by Namecheap as an “email gateway issue.” NameCheap added that this incident did not impact either its services or the information of its customers.
