Binance Details $6.3 Billion Heist After Hackers Used Fake Interviews and AI Tool
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Nov 3
Binance Details $6.3 Billion Heist After Hackers Used Fake Interviews and AI Tool
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Nov 3
Summary
$6.3 billion was stolen over nearly four hours on Oct. 29 after attackers spent months infiltrating Binance through a software engineer recruited via a fake job interview.
An “assignment” downloaded after two interview rounds planted malware that evaded security tools, then let hackers use an internal Binance AI tool on Oct. 20 to seize two wallet-team computers.
One compromised engineer had software deployment permissions, which the attackers used nine days later to access a transaction-signing service and drain hot wallets; Binance said halting withdrawals could not stop transfers already set in motion.
Binance said $2.85 billion has been frozen or intercepted, it will cover customer losses, and it has already replenished 98% of affected tokens.
The FBI has attributed the attack to North Korea’s TraderTraitor unit, making it the biggest crypto theft on record, far above the previous $1.5 billion Bybit hack in 2025.