Binance traces $6.3B hack to fake job interviews, compromised AI tool
Hackers exploited compromised employee computers and stolen credentials to breach Binance’s wallet infrastructure, according to the exchange’s investigation.
Hackers exploited compromised employee computers and stolen credentials to breach Binance’s wallet infrastructure, according to the exchange’s investigation.
A coding assignment from a prospective employer seemed like an ordinary part of a job interview. Instead, it was one step in a months-long cyberattack that ended with $6.3 billion stolen from Binance, raising questions about how exchanges protect themselves against threats that target their employees.
The attack was part of a coordinated campaign that exploited both human vulnerabilities and internal security systems, according to a postmortem released by Binance on Tuesday. The exchange’s findings detailed how hackers gradually gained access to its wallet infrastructure before the Oct. 29 theft.
On Oct. 20, the attackers used the compromised computer and an internal AI tool to gain access to two additional engineers’s systems, obtaining deployment credentials that allowed them to install malicious software within Binance’s wallet infrastructure on Oct. 29.