Daily Briefing for 12.01.25

Top stories.

• European law enforcement shutters illegal cryptocurrency mixer.
• Coupang breach affects nearly 34 million customers.
• Asahi continues recovery from ransomware attack.

European law enforcement shutters illegal cryptocurrency mixer.

Authorities in Switzerland and Germany shut down an illegal cryptocurrency mixer service called "Cryptomixer" and seized approximately $29 million worth of Bitcoin, Help Net Security reports. The service was operated from servers in Zurich.

Europol, which supported the operation, said in a press release, "Cryptomixer was a hybrid mixing service accessible via both the clear web and the dark web. It facilitated the obfuscation of criminal funds for ransomware groups, underground economy forums, and dark web markets. Its software blocked the traceability of funds on the blockchain, making it the platform of choice for cybercriminals seeking to launder illegal proceeds from a variety of criminal activities, such as drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, ransomware attacks, and payment card fraud. Since its creation in the year 2016, over EUR 1.3 billion in Bitcoin were mixed through the service."

Coupang breach affects nearly 34 million customers.

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang has disclosed a data breach affecting 33.7 million accounts, which the Korea Times notes represents nearly all of the company's customer base. According to PYMNTS, the breach affected users' names, email addresses, phone numbers, shipping addresses, and some order histories.

Reuters reports that the South Korean government held an emergency meeting yesterday to determine whether Coupang had violated privacy regulations. Coupang has apologized for the breach and is working with law enforcement and regulatory authorities. Korea's Internet & Security Agency warned users to be on the lookout for phishing scams in the wake of the breach.

Asahi continues recovery from ransomware attack.

Asahi, Japan's largest beer company, revealed last week that a September ransomware attack may have exposed data belonging to more than 1.5 million customers, the BBC reports. The breach involved names, genders, addresses, and contact information belonging to people who had contacted the company's customer service centers. The incident also affected data belonging to 107,000 current and former employees and their family members.

Asahi says it spent the past two months containing the attack, and is now beginning to restore its systems.