Binance Details $6.3 Billion Heist Executed via Social Engineering and Internal AI Tool
Binance has released a post-mortem regarding a massive $6.3 billion cryptocurrency theft attributed to the North Korean hacking unit 'TraderTraitor.' The attack unfolded over several months, beginning in June with a malware infection via a malicious Google search ad. A second wave occurred in September when hackers used sophisticated social engineering—impersonating recruiters through fake job interviews—to trick an engineer into downloading malware that provided backdoor access to the company's systems. The attackers ultimately leveraged Binance’s own internal AI tool to gain control over employee wallets and execute unauthorized transfers. While the theft was unprecedented in scale, Binance CEO Richard Teng stated that 98% of the impacted tokens have been replenished and no users have borne losses. The company noted that Multi-Party Computation (MPC) protocols prevented immediate revocation of the malicious authorizations during the height of the attack.