Update & Action Response: Third-Party Vendor KYC Matter

Dear Binancians,

Thank you for your patience as the investigation of the KYC matter from August 7, 2019 is still ongoing. Over the past few weeks, our security and investigations team has been pursuing all leads to find the source of the KYC images that bear similarity to Binance KYC images which were made public by an unidentified hacker.

Protecting Our Users

Security is our top priority, and we are committed to protecting our users in all possible circumstances. We have robust measures in place to safeguard our customers’ assets and information, including an updated KYC verification system and AI-based facial verification function introduced in 2018, as well as the storage and indexing of KYC data with sophisticated data security technology upgraded in 2019.

Investigation Update

The latest evidence of this investigation indicates that some of the leaked images overlap with images that were processed by a third-party vendor, which Binance contracted a few times between early December 2017 and late February 2018.

During our review of the leaked images, there were multiple photoshopped or otherwise altered images which do not match the KYC images in our database and are being accounted into the comprehensive investigation. In addition, every image processed through Binance for KYC purposes is embedded with a concealed digital watermark, which was notably absent from all of the leaked images.

Action Response

As part of our service and commitment to our users, we are actively contacting all potential victims with our guidance on privacy protection and restitution, and highly recommend affected users to apply for new identification documents in their respective region.

We are compensating affected users with a lifetime Binance VIP membership, including preferential trading fees, support, and more services. We encourage users to contact us with questions and about restitution by submitting a request on the Binance Customer Support Center under “Security Issue.” Please make sure to verify you are being contacted via official Binance email communication.

Protecting our users and keeping our systems secure is our utmost priority. We will continue to improve our systems and processes in our service to the community in a fast-changing industry.

Thank you for your continued support and trust in Binance. 

- Binance Security Team