TSMC Confirms Employee Data Leak as Hackers Try to Sell 46,000 Records for Bitcoin

The hackers reportedly posted the employee records on underground forums including DarkForums and BreachForums, threatening to make the data public if no buyer came forward within a week. TSMC confirmed that employee information had appeared on external websites but maintained there was no evidence its own systems had been breached.

According to Business Next, the leaked samples contained names, national ID numbers, and bank account details. TSMC stated the incident did not affect customer information or production-related data and that affected individuals have already been notified.

Cloud Service Provider

TSMC revealed the exposed records were linked to a cloud service provider, though it has not identified the provider or explained what service it handled. The company is working with the service provider, cybersecurity firms, and law enforcement to investigate the leak's origin.

The incident comes as other Taiwanese businesses deal with similar problems.

Wider Impact

Several other Taiwanese businesses have recently faced security issues. Travel booking platform EzTravel disclosed data exposure for over 690,000 customers, while Bank SinoPac reported unauthorized transfers totaling NT$41.76 million after its online banking system was exploited.

Similar incidents affected crypto exchanges and financial firms globally. In October, Bithumb disclosed unauthorized access to internal workplace tools, potentially exposing customer data. South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service investigated incidents at Daishin Securities and Mirae Asset Global Investment after customer data leaks.

The issue has reached major US crypto firms, with Coinbase's third-party analytics provider Amplitude exposing some customer contact information in a security incident.