FBI Says North Korea Behind $6 Billion Binance Crypto Theft - Newsweek
The FBI has accused North Korea of orchestrating the theft of over $6 billion in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange Binance in what appears to be one of the largest publicly attributed cryptocurrency hacks to date.
The cyber alert released by the bureau on Saturday stated the attack occurred on or about October 29. Authorities have observed the hackers converting stolen assets primarily into Ethereum and expect the funds to be moved through decentralized finance platforms and instant-swap services as part of a broader laundering effort.
The FBI urged cryptocurrency companies, blockchain analytics firms, decentralized finance services, exchange operators and node operators to block transactions linked to a list of cryptocurrency addresses allegedly controlled by the North Korean actors.
TraderTraitor Campaign
According to the FBI, the activity is part of an ongoing North Korean cyber campaign known as 'TraderTraitor,' which U.S. authorities have previously linked to high-value cryptocurrency thefts intended to generate revenue for the isolated regime.
The announcement underscores growing concerns among U.S. officials over North Korea's reliance on cybercrime and digital asset theft to evade international sanctions and obtain foreign currency.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion USD in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
Binance Investigation
Responding to the attack, Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, said its initial investigations indicated that the laptop of a software engineer at the company may have been compromised, allowing hackers into the platform's systems.
Kathryn Westmore, the director of financial crime at UK Finance, told Newsweek that she believed North Korea was behind the heist. 'TraderTraitors [is] believed to be a state-sponsored North Korean hacking group who have carried out other hacks on other platforms, although not at the scale of the Binance hack,' she said.
Based on the statements from Binance, their money should be safe. However, we don't know what, if any, personal data may have been breached, so people should monitor for any signs that their personal data is being used by criminals or has been sold.
Attack Details
Blockchain company TRM Labs believes the attack took around 36 hours to prepare, when the main operator got 'three small withdrawals from Tornado Cash, a service that obscures where crypto comes from.' Hackers then launched the attack, using code to target two wallets.
In just four minutes between 8:05 p.m. and 8:09 p.m., five Binance hot wallets sent 233.46 million XRP to one of the hackers' addresses. One minute later, Binance wallets on Optimism and Solana were hit. At 8:20 p.m., a Binance Bitcoin hot wallet was taken over, with hackers sending themselves 18,270 BTC and splitting them into smaller pieces to obscure the funds' journey.
User Protection
Westmore warned that 'it's highly likely that we're going to see a wave of fraudsters contacting potential victims and asking for payment to help them get their money back (which they can't do).' Binance has confirmed it will cover the costs of the massive hack.
The FBI said anyone with information related to the theft or laundering of the stolen assets should contact a local FBI field office or submit information through the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
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