The $6.3B Binance hack was pulled off in just 20 minutes

443 points - yesterday at 12:50 PM

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Comments

yunnpp today at 2:02 AM
> saying it will cover all losses from the hack and is working with law enforcement officials to identify who is responsible.

Isn't Binance the one that needs to be prosecuted for negligent security? How does "a compromised laptop" lead to a $6bn wipe in a matter of minutes?

This is why banks are regulated, though I have no idea if/whether these platforms are regulated in any similar way.

lordnacho yesterday at 2:45 PM
The heist itself only took 20 minutes, but the preparation is a business that has gone on for years. Much like a heist movie, the exciting bit is just the conclusion after a long build-up where Danny gets the gang together, plans it, and executes it.
minimaxa today at 2:24 AM
Interesting, when the Cryptsy founder stole millions via laundering coins in Coinbase exchange, the government, FBI, and CIA did jack sh!t to recover the lost funds!

He is still in China living with his girlfriend.

Miami, Florida – A 17-count indictment was unsealed in federal court in Miami, Florida charging Paul E. Vernon, 48, the founder, operator, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Project Investors Inc., doing business as Cryptsy

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/ceo-major-online-crypto...

smallnix today at 8:13 AM
Reminds me of the time NK tried to steal 1bn from the new NY Federal Reserve Bank: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Bank_robbery -- they only managed to steal 80mm due to human intervention from a single employee of pan asia bank
jakaroo yesterday at 2:39 PM
The short duration of this crypto hack isn't particularly noteworthy. Of course it takes time to find or design the exploit, but execution is typically very quick for such events
gurkwart yesterday at 2:00 PM
Something tells me that the timing of the Claude Code supply chain attack is not a coincidence ...

https://cyberplace.social/@GossiTheDog/117528831681803563

pixl97 yesterday at 1:24 PM
When seconds matter we'll patch our systems in days to weeks.
efields yesterday at 1:48 PM
I'd watch all 20 minutes of that screen share.
dgrin91 yesterday at 1:59 PM
I wonder what the actual attack vectors here were. Was there actually a hack into binance systems, or was it just some insider or credential leak?
qaz_plm yesterday at 1:29 PM
hn_submit yesterday at 5:14 PM
I'm stunned that they had that much cryptocoin online to be stolen. Why didn't they put it in "cold storage" and only some information in the database which says how much each customer had?

OTOH I heard that the culprits didn't steal the private keys of the affected customers. If this is true the stolen cryptocoins are worthless.

tzone yesterday at 8:25 PM
Lol, the title is so misleading. As more information is coming out, if the Cursor Claude extension really is the culprit here, these attack must have been in the works for god knows how long.

This level of targeting is really only something that nation state actors can pull off, who are also protected from actual law enforcement prosecution. Unless attackers are really in North Korea, they would 100% be caught within just few days.

reassess_blind yesterday at 11:08 PM
How is it possible that Binance doesn't have a system that disallows massive simultaneous withdrawals without some kind of two-key manual override or something?
hattmall yesterday at 1:55 PM
Binance having an extra $6B to cover this is wild to me.
bagacrap yesterday at 2:17 PM
The funds were simply de-centralized. Seems by design?
saddat today at 8:09 AM
AI heist ?
vedanshchauhan9 today at 5:10 AM
After the HuggingFace incindent, these things keep on happeneing. Last week Railway and PHP faced these problems and now its Binance. The flood gates are now open.
jjallen yesterday at 2:31 PM
As a former crypto proponent, after ~17 years I think we have to have a real discussion about the value crypto does or doesn't bring to the world.

Sure, it let's some people keep their savings safe from dictatorial countries. But it also fuels other dictators that are doing pretty nasty stuff to their own people. And crypto is facilitating that.

chuckadams yesterday at 3:45 PM
Most successful bank heists are in and out in less than five minutes. Or were anyway, there's a reason you don't hear about them these days.
pyrale yesterday at 1:50 PM
Not quite the nanosecond buyout yet, but we're getting there.
1970-01-01 yesterday at 1:55 PM
Excellent, now make sure all of it gets into the 90 minute movie.
justinator today at 5:38 AM
haha.gif
bendtheblock yesterday at 6:30 PM
Funny that for all the hype around decentralisation and the libertarian ideals that surround crypto Binance, Circle etc were able to unilaterally freeze funds when it came down to their own self interest... I thought the code was the rules etc seems like the best player won here.

Crazy that most of this gets put into North Korean weapons programs.

amelius yesterday at 5:46 PM
Crypto is the canary.
sharts yesterday at 2:40 PM
Perhaps the culprit deserves to keep it all like all billionaires. Fair is fair.
m00dy yesterday at 2:35 PM
yeah executed in 20minutes, how about planning phase ?
ravivarmat today at 6:05 AM
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ntsili today at 2:26 AM
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szemy2 yesterday at 4:38 PM
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cryptokeyhole yesterday at 6:24 PM
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deleted yesterday at 6:22 PM
quietFerry94 yesterday at 1:31 PM
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lmz today at 5:45 AM
Good for them if it's the Norks. Wonderful to see the underdog come out on top every now and then.