Thousands of TSMC workers face identity theft risk after personal data, including bank details, was leaked.
Employees’ families could be targeted, as emergency contacts’ names, phones, and addresses were exposed.
The breach underscores broader privacy vulnerabilities in Taiwan’s tech sector, prompting public distrust in data protection.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), a chip manufacturing firm, has confirmed that personal information belonging to some current and former employees was exposed without permission on November 12.
According to a local report, the firm confirmed this after a hacker attempted to sell an alleged 46,000 employee records, stored in a 6.9GB database, for 3 BTC on underground forums.
The seller reportedly listed the database on DarkForums and BreachForums, asking for approximately NT7.4million($220,000). The hacker gave potential buyers one week to purchase the information and threatened to release the entire database publicly if nobody agreed to pay before the deadline.
The offer has raised questions about how the information was obtained and why employee records held by an outside service provider were not protected.
Hacker offers 46,000 employee records for 3 BTC
According to reports, the seller claimed to have obtained personal information belonging to approximately 46,000 TSMC employees. To show that the database was genuine, the hacker reportedly shared a sample file named “tsmc.txt” containing 499 records, with 19 different fields in each record.
The information allegedly included employees’ full names, dates of birth, job positions, nationalities, national identification numbers, home addresses, personal phone numbers and email addresses.
Reports also indicated that bank account details were included in the database. These records could expose additional information about employees’ emergency contacts, including their names, phone numbers and residential addresses.
However, TSMC has not confirmed that exactly 46,000 employees were affected. The figure comes from the hacker’s claim, while the company has only confirmed that information belonging to some current and former employees was exposed.
TSMC says its internal systems were not hacked
Following the reports, TSMC explained that its preliminary investigation linked the exposed information to records held by a third-party cloud service provider.
This means the incident does not currently point to a direct attack on the company’s internal IT systems. TSMC also said there was no evidence that its production operations or customer information had been affected.
The company has started contacting employees whose information may have been exposed and is providing them with assistance. It is also working with the unnamed cloud service provider, law enforcement authorities and external cybersecurity firms to find out how the data was accessed.
Other crypto companies that reported breaches in 2026
Meanwhile, this is not the first incident in the crypto space. In fact, several companies in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry have reported similar security problems in 2026.
For instance, hardware wallet provider SafePal disclosed that an authorization flaw in its order-tracking plug-in exposed personal information belonging to 39,798 customers. The leaked details included names, home addresses and phone numbers.
However, the company said customers’ seed phrases, private keys and funds were not affected.
Blockchain infrastructure provider Chainstack also confirmed that an attacker accessed parts of its systems between October 26 and October 31. The breach exposed a customer account database and systems containing node credentials.
NEAR AI also reported a breach after attackers exploited a weakness in the SGLang software running on its servers. Its investigation found that information belonging to approximately 100 users, data from 18 older AI agents and API keys belonging to two cloud customers were exposed.
Meanwhile, Gnosis Pay disclosed unauthorized access to its older card platform on November 3. The incident exposed certain customer information, although the company said user funds were not affected.
Also Read: Xash Launches PAXG Rewards for PYUSD DeFi Activity on Solana
Disclaimer: The information researched and reported by The Crypto Times is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional financial advice. Investing in crypto assets involves significant risk due to market volatility. Always Do Your Own Research (DYOR) and consult with a qualified Financial Advisor before making any investment decisions.