The incident led Binance to suspend withdrawals for customers worldwide. Users could not move cryptocurrency off the platform until the service was restored on Sunday.
The attackers used a range of techniques, including malicious software downloads, to compromise engineers’ computers and gain control of tools used to drain a wallet of billions of dollars in crypto, according to the company.
The company called the episode a serious and highly sophisticated security incident and apologised, saying this should not have happened.
Binance said it had set aside more than 100% of the funds needed to cover the loss and that 98% of the token assets affected had been replenished as of Saturday. Binance said hackers who stole a record $6.3 billion (£4.7 billion) from the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange used fake job interviews and a compromised internal AI tool.
Hackers then used the engineer’s compromised computer and a compromised internal AI tool in October to take control of two other engineers’ laptops and carry out the next stages of the attack, Binance said. In a second interview, the engineer was instructed to download malware masquerading as an assignment. The code used obfuscation techniques that evaded detection, the firm said.
Binance said one of its engineers was contacted through a legitimate job-hunting platform and invited to bogus interviews with fake company representatives. The company said the attack was a sophisticated, multi-stage campaign and the largest crypto hack to date. In a post on X, Binance said the hackers targeted its engineers with social engineering.