Ledger CEO rules out compensation for data breach victims

The hardware-wallet maker Ledger will not compensate users harmed by the scale of the data breach. Decrypt reports, citing the company’s CEO Pascal Gauthier.

Earlier, Ledger customers reported letters in which unknown individuals demanded ransom and claimed to know the victim’s address and name. Some recipients of such notices expressed concern for their safety.

Gauthier doubted the reality of the threats. In his view, the attackers merely changed their approach to extortion. The head of the company urged users to stay calm and not expect compensation.

“When a data breach of this scale occurs in a small company, it is impossible to compensate losses and replace millions of devices. It would simply kill the company. We prefer to look to the future”, said Gauthier.

According to him, Ledger will continue to invest in creating the next level of security and other products to enhance user protection.

“In effect, coming to someone’s home is a very expensive exercise. While it is possible, the probability of such an event is not the highest. The database has been online since July, but no one has reported attacks of this kind”, concluded the wallet maker’s CEO.

Representatives of Ledger urged users not to pay ransom to the attackers.

There has been a new wave of phishing attacks taking place since yesterday, threatening our users physically.

Never pay ransom in any way!

If you fear for your physical safety and believe you are in danger, make sure you contact your local authorities right away.

— Ledger (@Ledger) December 22, 2020

“If you fear for your physical safety and believe you are in danger, contact your local authorities immediately,” the message reads.

Twitter users reacted to the threat letters. Some criticised the company, others treated the situation with a degree of humour.

I have my @Ledger hooked up to the computer and I’m ready to trade! pic.twitter.com/QjDlDnkFUu

— Luke Martin (@VentureCoinist) December 21, 2020

The CTO of Casa, Jameson Lopp, urged Ledger users to protect private keys with hardware.

Protect your private keys with hardware. pic.twitter.com/t1PzfWnLeA

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) December 21, 2020

Additionally, Lopp recommended paying more attention to personal security rather than blaming Ledger alone for the breach. In his view, the company’s products remain secure.

Earlier, Casa’s CTO said that only 1% of users had protected their personal information using subscription boxes.

In June, Ledger database breach occurred, with an unknown actor gaining access via an API key.

On Sunday, December 20, 1 million email addresses, 272,000 home addresses and phone numbers of hardware-wallet users appeared on the hacker forum RaidForums.

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