Hackers linked to the North Korean regime have been blamed for a record$6.3bn cryptocurrency theft following a cyberattack on crypto exchange Binance.
The attackers reportedly stole at least $6.3bn in cryptocurrency from the company’s wallets.
However, security researchers said about half of the stolen funds had been frozen as the assets moved across different blockchain networks.
The breach is the largest known cryptocurrency theft in history.
However, the incident has yet to be confirmed as fully resolved, while the total amount stolen could still change.
In a post on X, Binance said preliminary investigations indicated that the hackers gained access to its network by targeting a Binance engineer’s compromised laptop.
The breach allegedly allowed the attacker to access a service container and submit unauthorised withdrawal transactions, the company said.
Binance added that it had found no evidence that its private keys had been compromised.
Such a breach could give hackers almost unrestricted control over the cryptocurrency held in the exchange’s wallets.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange said it had suspended all deposits and withdrawals as investigations into the incident continued.
Binance said “user funds are safe,” but did not immediately provide proof of this claim. The company said it will “publish an updated proof of reserves once the remediation is complete.”
Binance spokesperson Andie Cooper said in a statement on Friday that industry partners had frozen about $3bn of the stolen cryptocurrency, according to TechCrunch.
Cooper said the exchange had “begun recovering affected assets for users and was working with law enforcement agencies, cryptocurrency issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and other industry partners to trace, freeze and recover more of the stolen funds.”
