Hackers exploit internal AI tools in six billion dollar Binance theft

Binance revealed in a security report on November 3 that attackers exploited its internal artificial intelligence infrastructure to compromise engineers before stealing 6.34 billion dollars in cryptocurrency, CryptoSlate reported. The breach occurred on October 20 when attackers used a compromised employee computer and an internal AI tool to gain control of two engineers responsible for the exchange's wallet infrastructure. [1]

According to CryptoSlate, the perpetrators subsequently obtained a container deployment permission token to execute the breach. Kuwait Times reported that Binance subsequently reopened withdrawals following the hack, with 4.7 billion dollars withdrawn on the first day. BitKE reported that total outflows reached approximately 6 billion dollars after withdrawals resumed. [1][3][6]

As FTMQ Crypto reported earlier, attackers targeted Binance in a 6.3 billion dollar exploit on October 30 at 8:04 PM UTC, converting stablecoins into Bitcoin and Ether to prevent token issuers from freezing the funds. Tether and Circle subsequently froze approximately 3 billion dollars in stolen assets following the attack. The perpetrators are linked to a North Korean group previously responsible for an exploit on Bitget. [9]

Binance was founded on July 14, 2017, by Changpeng Zhao, a Canadian developer with experience in high-frequency trading software and as chief technology officer at the cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin. The exchange originally launched from China after completing an initial coin offering for its native BNB token that raised 15 million dollars. [8]