North Korea pulled off the Binance hack through two social engineering attacks:
• Targeted an engineer via LinkedIn, convincing them to download a fake "assignment"
• Tricked another engineer into installing a compromised version of Homebrew software
Both vectors gave attackers access to internal systems. The operation shows how even sophisticated crypto firms remain vulnerable to basic phishing tactics when attackers invest time in building trust.
• Targeted an engineer via LinkedIn, convincing them to download a fake "assignment"
• Tricked another engineer into installing a compromised version of Homebrew software
Both vectors gave attackers access to internal systems. The operation shows how even sophisticated crypto firms remain vulnerable to basic phishing tactics when attackers invest time in building trust.