In the year AI re-wrote the infosec rulebook, it’s comforting to know crypto exchanges still have bad security
Binance freezes funny money after compromise of engineer’s laptop linked to $6.3 billion of unauthorized trades
Binance, a prominent crypto exchange, has temporarily halted trading following the discovery of unknown parties exploiting one of its employees' laptops to execute significant trades. In a statement posted on its social media platforms, Binance affirmed that user funds are secure and advised customers to exercise caution against scams and dubious communications.
They promptly froze $2.5 billion worth of assets, with a warning that this figure might escalate as they collaborate with law enforcement, blockchain intelligence firms, and industry partners to trace and secure additional assets. Trading, deposits, and withdrawals were suspended to mitigate further complications. Binance has since updated the public about the incident, attributing the security breach to a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop.
This breach enabled the attacker to gain access to a service container, which resulted in unauthorized withdrawal transactions. The company has raised their estimated risk to $6.3 billion but reiterated their commitment to covering customer losses. Binance has not disclosed the exact manner in which the attacker infiltrated the engineer's laptop, which raises suspicions of a phishing attack, supply chain compromise, or an AI-powered breach.
While customers' holdings have not been reported as inaccessible, Binance has yet to resume trading activities.
Written by urgent.news from The Register Science's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
