Binance says crypto theft targeting $6.34 billion followed months of planning - Big Tech and the digital economy

The exchange says attackers used fake recruitment interviews, malware and compromised internal tools in a campaign that began as early as June. Binance says it has frozen or intercepted $2.85 billion.

Binance says hackers spent months preparing a cryptocurrency theft that targeted $6.34 billion from its wallets. The company described the operation as a multi-stage campaign involving social engineering, malware and compromised internal tools, rather than a single breach or routine phishing attempt.

The attack culminated last Thursday, when the hackers compromised an engineer’s laptop and withdrew assets from several wallets, according to Binance. The company said its investigation indicates the activity began no later than June.

The attackers allegedly used fake recruitment interviews, malicious software downloads, compromised internal AI tooling and an advanced method for authorizing transactions. Binance said the first likely incident involved an engineer downloading a tampered version of Homebrew. Its security team detected the compromised laptop after the malware operators had obtained information about the engineer’s role and those of colleagues on the wallet infrastructure team.

The FBI and security firm TRM attributed the heist to North Korean actors. Binance said it has frozen or intercepted $2.85 billion of the targeted funds and set aside funds to cover the loss. The company described $6.34 billion as the largest amount ever targeted in a cryptocurrency theft.

Sources: Ars Technica.