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Sat, 31 Oct 2026

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 Why North Korea's 'elite' hackers are the prime suspect in major Binance hack

If the accusations are true, the record-making heist shows how powerful suspected North Korean hackers have become.
Two major blockchain analytics firms, TRM Labs and Chainalysis, have identified the North Korean state-backed hacking group Lazarus Group as the likely culprits behind the $6.3 billion hack of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. The hack is one of several high-profile cybercrimes linked to North Korea, which has been accused by experts of relying on cybercrime to finance itself despite its poor economic situation. The Lazarus Group, also known as TraderTraitor, was previously identified as responsible for a $1.5 billion hack on the Bybit exchange last year. In that incident, the group used sophisticated laundering techniques to convert stolen assets into Bitcoin and other digital currencies. TRM Labs has confirmed that the same techniques were likely used in the Binance hack, which exposed thousands of embarrassing emails exchanged among top executives at Sony Pictures in 2014. The FBI has accused North Korea of conducting "illicit cybercrime and virtual asset theft activities" and has tracked the group's operations to China. The Lazarus Group is believed to have used a special authorization to turn Binance's hot wallet into one that automatically transferred funds to the attacker. Around 80% of the stolen assets have been secured, but the rest remains unaccounted for. Experts say the rise of artificial intelligence has given threat actors new ways to carry out crime through automation and other means, making it plausible that AI was used to infiltrate Binance's systems in this case.