Revolut hackers demand $3 million as breach exposes crypto holders' data

As stated by the Financial Times (FT), the attackers who duped Revolut into giving up customer data are asking for a ransom of $3 million to ensure that the information remains confidential. The information includes identity documents, home addresses, and transaction records related to crypto-heavy accounts.

The ransom is just one of the problems. The stolen data could connect visible on-chain wealth to a real person. For Revolut, which has just received a conditional approval for forming a national bank, the incident raises a larger question: how does the centralized financial system protect its KYC data?

A Monero ransom and a threat to leak

According to the report in the Financial Times, the group, calling itself “iamnotavillain,” demanded $3 million in Monero and threatened to sell the records if Revolut did not comply. Reuters said Revolut had received no ransom demand or direct contact from the attackers. One source cited by the news outlet said that around 680 customer files had been compromised in this case, although Revolut has offered no specifics, referring to the number of affected customers only as “limited.”

The attackers also claimed to have hacked an email system of the Italian government and performed blockchain-focused analysis to identify customers of Revolut who own a lot of cryptocurrencies, according to a separate report by the FT. Revolut has not confirmed this claim on its own.