FBI links North Korean hackers to record Binance cryptocurrency heist

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has officially attributed a record cryptocurrency heist against Binance to North Korean state-sponsored hackers. BleepingComputer and The Hacker News both report that the agency published a security alert confirming the group known as TraderTraitor carried out the attack. News outlets differ on the exact total stolen in the breach. BleepingComputer, Help Net Security, Diari ARA, Informat.ro, and SBS News report the stolen sum as 6.3 billion dollars, while The Hacker News places the figure at more than 6.43 billion dollars. [1][3][4][5][6][8]

The FBI stated that TraderTraitor operates under several alias designations. BleepingComputer and The Hacker News both report that the group is tracked as Lazarus Group, Jade Sleet, and APT38. The Hacker News additionally notes that security researchers track the unit under the names Pressure Chollima, PUKCHONG, Slow Pisces, and UNC4899. The FBI highlighted that the state-linked cluster has been involved in multiple previous cryptocurrency thefts. [1][4]

Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of daily trading volume. As FTMQ Security reported earlier, Binance recently suffered a security breach where hackers executed a record theft in 20 minutes, raising safety concerns over exchange wallets. FTMQ Security also noted earlier that North Korean hackers have previously targeted fintech executives using fake video meeting links to execute malicious terminal commands. [11][13][14]

The FBI released the technical advisory to help financial organizations and cryptocurrency platforms defend against further unauthorized access by North Korean state-sponsored actors. [1]