A screen capture of the initial hacking investigation report posted by Binance on its blog on the 3rd. [Photo captured from Binance blog]
A fake job interview featuring a disguised chief executive officer opened the door to the largest cryptocurrency heist in history. Hackers successfully breached Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, by combining social engineering tactics such as malicious code disguised as artificial intelligence coding tools with bogus recruitment processes.
Binance released an initial investigation report on its hack on November 3 (local time). The breach, which occurred on October 29, resulted in the outflow of approximately $6.34 billion (approx. 8.5 trillion won) worth of cryptocurrencies. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) pointed the finger at the North Korean hacking group ‘TraderTraitor,’ the same organization that stole $1.5 billion from the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit in February of last year. Although Binance claimed it successfully blocked 57 suspected North Korean-linked hacking attempts this year alone, this latest attack managed to break through their defenses.
According to the report, the cyberattack began as early as June. A wallet operations developer at Binance searched for AI development tools on a search engine and inadvertently downloaded a modified installation file. Although the security team detected abnormal signs, replaced the PC, and changed authentication credentials, the wallet team’s organizational chart and colleagues’ personal information had already fallen into the hands of the hackers.
Subsequently, the hackers targeted another engineer inside Binance last September. An individual posing as a fictitious company called ‘Project Director’ approached an engineer who had publicly listed their work history at Binance on a job portal. During the first interview, a fake human resources manager built trust by showing social media accounts containing personal information. In the second interview, a fake CEO recommended that the engineer install an ‘assignment file,’ which was actually malicious code disguised as an AI development tool. Because the malware was entirely novel, security software failed to detect it.
Using the engineer’s work PC as a stepping stone, the hackers secured control over the PCs of the wallet development team. This allowed them to bypass withdrawal procedures and siphon off major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ripple. It took approximately four hours for Binance to suspend withdrawals and regain system control. In the report, Binance stated that it froze and blocked approximately $2.85 billion out of the $6.3 billion stolen, while the company will absorb the remaining losses. The exchange also decided to rebuild its wallet system and internal AI tools from scratch.
However, AI-driven cyberattacks by hackers are expected to intensify further. Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, stated in an interview with CoinDesk on the same day that 100% secure security does not exist, adding that as AI evolves, people will witness these types of hacking incidents much more frequently.
Security industry experts advise that proactive updates are necessary to counter evolving hacking techniques. In a vulnerability analysis report released on November 2, Microsoft’s security laboratory pointed out that AI can assist in writing hacking code, thereby reducing the response time for defenders. The median time required to apply security patches is about two weeks for Windows PCs, over 10 weeks for Linux servers, and more than a year for network equipment. Conversely, 29% of last year’s hacker attacks began within 24 hours of a vulnerability being publicly disclosed. This creates a structural reality where attacks conclude long before defenders can discover and fix vulnerabilities.
Lee Joo-young, a senior researcher at the Korea Information Security Industry Association, explained that defenders spend a lot of time repeating verifications to minimize errors during patching, noting that updating proactively even in the absence of threats is currently the best defense strategy.
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