‘This should not have happened’: Binance says North Korean hackers used LinkedIn to trap engineer into th - The Times of India
North Korean hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance through fake LinkedIn job interviews and a malicious advertisement, in what the cryptocurrency exchange calls the biggest theft in crypto history.
Binance has revealed that fake job interviews on LinkedIn helped hackers steal $6.3 billion from its crypto accounts. The cryptocurrency exchange disclosed that North Korean attackers approached an engineer on LinkedIn, staged interviews with supposed company representatives and persuaded the employee to download a malicious assignment.
According to Binance, the recruitment scheme, combined with an earlier attack on another engineer, gave hackers access to wallets in what it described as the biggest theft in crypto history. "This should not have happened, and we apologise for the concern, disruption and uncertainty it caused our users, partners and the wider industry," Binance said in a statement.
Fake recruitment process
Binance said an individual posing as a project director contacted an engineer whose professional profile mentioned experience at the exchange. The purported Project Director arranged interviews with an HR representative and someone claiming to be the CEO of a fictitious company.
The staged recruitment process led the engineer to download an assignment that allowed attackers into the company's systems. A Binance spokesperson noted that employees in non-public-facing roles are prohibited from maintaining LinkedIn profiles.
Malicious advertisement
The attackers had earlier targeted a different engineer through an online advertisement promoting a tampered version of Homebrew, a software management tool. The employee downloaded it through the advertisement rather than the company's approved channels.
This should not have happened, and we apologise for the concern, disruption and uncertainty it caused our users, partners and the wider industry.
Recovery efforts
The theft took place over several hours last week. Binance suspended withdrawals for approximately 48 hours before restoring them. The exchange said it recovered around $2.5 billion of the $6.3 billion stolen after Tether and Circle froze stolen stablecoins.
Binance said it had replenished 98% of the stolen coins using reserves and other sources, while maintaining that customer funds were safe. It was still acquiring the remaining 2%, consisting of less widely used currencies.
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