Binance says fake job interviews and internal AI tool used in $6.3bn heist

Cryptocurrency giant Binance has revealed that a sophisticated attack, involving fake job interviews and an internal AI tool, led to a staggering $6.3 billion heist. The breach, disclosed last week, was executed by compromising the engineer who allowed the AI tool to gain access to the wallets of two other engineers. This sophisticated scheme was deployed on October 20, employing a mix of social engineering tactics, malicious downloads, compromised internal AI tooling, endpoint compromise, and an advanced transaction-authorisation method.

Binance has since taken steps to safeguard its systems, including rebuilding the impacted wallet system and revoking access controls. They have also replaced affected devices and decommissioned credentials tied to the affected engineers. The company has vowed to absorb the financial impact of the stolen funds, rather than burdening its customers.

The FBI has linked the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean state-sponsored hacking unit, which reportedly converted the stolen assets into Ether and anticipated further laundering through associated technologies.