| Recurring |
one_organization, multiple_organization |
(a) The software failure incident related to the scam involving stolen cryptocurrency accounts through the Coinbase Wallet software has happened again within the same organization, Coinbase. The incident involved scammers exploiting defects in the Coinbase Wallet software to gain access to victims' accounts and steal their money. Victims reported that Coinbase did not have procedures in place to prevent these frauds, allowing scammers to easily direct victims to download the Coinbase Wallet and grant them access to the accounts [133755].
(b) The software failure incident involving the scam where scammers stole cryptocurrency from victims' accounts through the Coinbase Wallet software has also occurred at other organizations or with their products and services. The article mentions that the scammers met victims through social media, dating apps, or wrong-number texts and directed them to download the Coinbase Wallet to grant access to their accounts. This indicates a broader issue of scammers exploiting vulnerabilities in software to steal cryptocurrency from unsuspecting individuals, not limited to just Coinbase [133755]. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design, operation |
(a) The software failure incident related to the design phase is evident in the article. The failure was due to contributing factors introduced by system development and procedures to operate or maintain the system. Victims alleged that Coinbase's software, specifically the Coinbase Wallet, had defects that allowed scammers to access their accounts unknowingly. Despite being notified about these defects, Coinbase did not take sufficient action to fix them, leading to the exploitation of these vulnerabilities by scammers [133755].
(b) The software failure incident related to the operation phase is also highlighted in the article. Victims reported that the scammers were able to steal money directly from their accounts due to flaws in the operation of the Coinbase Wallet software. The victims were misled into granting permission to the scammers through innocuous-looking prompts in the wallet app, which ultimately led to the theft of their cryptocurrency. This operation failure, combined with the lack of proper procedures to prevent such frauds, allowed the scam to continue unchecked [133755]. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system, outside_system |
(a) within_system:
The software failure incident reported in the articles is primarily attributed to factors within the system. Victims of the scam alleged that Coinbase's Coinbase Wallet software had defects that allowed scammers to access their accounts and steal their cryptocurrency funds. The victims claimed that they notified Coinbase about these defects but the company did not take sufficient measures to address the vulnerabilities, leading to significant financial losses for the victims [133755]. The lack of procedures in place to prevent such frauds within the Coinbase Wallet software contributed to the success of the scam [133755].
(b) outside_system:
While the primary focus of the software failure incident is on internal factors within the Coinbase system, there are mentions of external factors that influenced the scam. Reports indicated that some of the front-line scammers involved in the scheme were themselves victims of human trafficking in Southeast Asia, forced to work under threats of violence [133755]. Additionally, state regulators issued cease-and-desist orders against individuals believed to be involved in the scam, highlighting external regulatory actions taken in response to the incident [133755]. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions, human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident in the Coinbase case can be attributed to non-human actions, specifically the vulnerabilities and defects in the Coinbase Wallet software that allowed scammers to access victims' accounts without their knowledge. The victims unknowingly granted the scammers access to their accounts through the software, which facilitated the theft of their cryptocurrency [133755].
(b) On the other hand, human actions also played a role in the failure incident. The victims were targeted and manipulated by scammers who exploited the vulnerabilities in the Coinbase Wallet software. Additionally, there were claims that Coinbase did not have adequate procedures in place to prevent such frauds, and victims criticized the company for not taking sufficient action to protect them [133755]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
software |
(a) The software failure incident reported in the articles is primarily related to software issues rather than hardware. The incident involved a flaw in Coinbase's software, specifically the Coinbase Wallet software, which allowed scammers to gain unauthorized access to victims' cryptocurrency accounts. Victims reported that the software defect in the Coinbase Wallet allowed scammers to steal money directly from their accounts by tricking them into granting access unknowingly. The victims highlighted that Coinbase did not have proper procedures in place to prevent such frauds, leading to significant financial losses for many individuals [133755]. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
malicious |
(a) The software failure incident reported in the articles is malicious in nature. Scammers took advantage of defects in Coinbase Wallet software to steal cryptocurrency from victims' accounts. The scammers directed victims to download the Coinbase Wallet, where victims unknowingly granted access to their accounts by clicking on innocuous-looking vouchers that contained computer code granting permission to steal crypto deposited into the account later on. The scammers exploited these vulnerabilities in the software to carry out their fraudulent activities, resulting in significant financial losses for the victims [133755].
(b) The incident does not involve non-malicious software failure. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
poor_decisions, accidental_decisions |
The software failure incident reported in Article 133755 involves elements of both poor decisions and accidental decisions:
(a) poor_decisions: The incident involved poor decisions made by Coinbase in terms of not having adequate procedures in place to prevent frauds and scams. The victims alleged that Coinbase failed to protect them by not addressing defects in its Coinbase Wallet software that allowed scammers to access their accounts. The victims also criticized Coinbase for lacking the infrastructure to support its role as a financial institution, leading to vulnerabilities that scammers exploited [133755].
(b) accidental_decisions: The incident also includes accidental decisions made by the victims who were unknowingly granting scammers access to their accounts through innocuous-looking prompts in the Coinbase Wallet software. The victims were misled into believing they were engaging in legitimate transactions related to "liquidity mining" but were actually granting permission for their funds to be stolen through a single line of computer code [133755]. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
development_incompetence, accidental |
(a) The software failure incident in the Coinbase case can be attributed to development incompetence. The victims alleged that Coinbase failed to protect their cryptocurrency accounts from scammers due to defects in its Coinbase Wallet software that allowed scammers to access their accounts [133755]. The victims claimed that Coinbase did not have procedures in place to stop the frauds, which led to the scammers exploiting these vulnerabilities and directing victims to download the Coinbase Wallet [133755]. The victims also mentioned that Coinbase did not provide adequate warnings or safeguards in the app to prevent unauthorized access to their accounts, indicating a lack of professional competence in ensuring the security of the software [133755].
(b) The software failure incident can also be considered accidental to some extent. The victims were lured into a scam where they unknowingly granted scammers access to their accounts by clicking on innocuous-looking vouchers in the Coinbase Wallet app [133755]. This accidental granting of permission to the scammers resulted in the victims losing their funds, as the scammers were able to steal crypto deposited into the accounts without the victims' knowledge [133755]. The victims' accounts were manipulated over time by the scammers, leading to the eventual loss of their money in what was described as a "pig butchering" scam [133755]. |
| Duration |
temporary |
The software failure incident reported in the articles related to the Coinbase scam victims can be categorized as a temporary failure. The victims reported that the scam was facilitated by a defect in the Coinbase Wallet software that allowed scammers to gain unauthorized access to their accounts by tricking them into granting access unknowingly [133755]. This indicates that the failure was due to specific circumstances, such as the vulnerability in the software, rather than being a permanent failure introduced by all circumstances. |
| Behaviour |
omission, other |
(a) crash: The software failure incident described in the articles does not involve a crash where the system loses state and does not perform any of its intended functions. Instead, the failure is related to the system allowing scammers to steal money from victims' accounts by granting them unauthorized access [133755].
(b) omission: The failure in this incident can be attributed to omission, as the system (Coinbase Wallet software) omitted to prevent scammers from gaining access to victims' accounts and stealing their money. Victims reported that the software had defects that allowed scammers to exploit and directed victims to download the Coinbase Wallet, ultimately leading to the theft of funds [133755].
(c) timing: The failure is not related to timing issues where the system performs its intended functions too late or too early. Instead, the issue lies in the system's vulnerability that allowed scammers to steal funds from victims' accounts [133755].
(d) value: The failure does not stem from the system performing its intended functions incorrectly. The primary issue in this incident is the system's failure to protect users from unauthorized access and theft by scammers, rather than the system itself performing its functions incorrectly [133755].
(e) byzantine: The failure does not exhibit characteristics of a byzantine failure where the system behaves erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions. The main issue here is the exploitation of vulnerabilities in the system by scammers to steal funds from victims' accounts [133755].
(f) other: The behavior of the software failure incident can be categorized as a security vulnerability leading to unauthorized access and theft of funds from users' accounts. The failure is attributed to the system's lack of adequate protection measures rather than a specific type of behavior like a crash, omission, timing issue, or byzantine behavior [133755]. |