Weather 
The massive $6.3 billion cryptocurrency hack at Binance is a warning of potentially devastating cyberattacks ahead, according to a financial and reputation management expert who cautioned that the worst may be yet to come.
Eric Schiffer, chairman of Patriarch and Reputation Management Consultants, told FOX Business that the scale of the theft underscores the growing cybersecurity challenges facing major financial institutions.
“I look at this as one of the world’s greatest thefts of all time, and it’s sad,” Schiffer said.
Schiffer warned that this week’s incident could be an early sign of a broader wave of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, particularly as artificial intelligence becomes more powerful.
THIEVES MAKE OFF WITH $6.3B FROM BINANCE: ‘BIGGEST HACK IN HISTORY’
“I think the bloodbath of AI hacking is to come,” he said. “And there’s going to be a lot more pain.”
He cautioned that businesses can no longer afford to treat cybersecurity as a problem they can address after an attack occurs.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, confirmed Thursday that hackers had stolen approximately $6.3 billion in digital assets. The company later said it had reserved more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover the losses, including $5 billion already held in the same cryptocurrencies that were stolen.
The exchange said it was purchasing additional tokens through market and over-the-counter transactions to replace the remaining affected assets.
Binance also said approximately $3 billion in stolen assets had been frozen on-chain with the help of industry partners, with recovery efforts continuing. The exchange temporarily suspended withdrawals while conducting security checks.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SANCTIONS NORTH KOREAN NETWORK ACCUSED OF INFILTRATING US COMPANIES
The company pledged to cover customer losses, saying it would “absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users.”
Despite the scale of the theft, which one market analyst described as the “biggest hack in history,” Schiffer predicted that Binance would recover financially, but he warned that restoring investor confidence could prove more difficult.
“For a company like Binance that allegedly has a balance sheet that far exceeds the hit, they’re going to recover,” Schiffer said. “It’s painful. It certainly is a hit on credibility. They’re going [to] lose a lot of asset holders that currently are doing business with them.”
Binance said its initial investigation pointed to a compromised laptop, but subsequent findings revealed additional points of intrusion. The company said its internet-connected cryptocurrency wallets were compromised, allowing unauthorized withdrawals of approximately $6.3 billion in digital assets.
Binance said it had found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked and pledged to release a detailed technical report once the investigation is complete.
ALPHABET, MICROSOFT EARNINGS REVEAL SURGING AI DEMAND AS SPENDING SOARS
President Donald Trump also weighed in on the breach Friday, saying his administration was investigating whether North Korean hackers were responsible.
“We don’t know. We’re looking at that. The hack with Binance. We’re looking at that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, before expressing concerns about the risks associated with digital currencies.
“I’ve always felt it was a little bit dangerous,” he said, referring to cryptocurrency. “But now they say they have it pretty much under control. We’ll see.”
The U.S. Secret Service confirmed to FOX Business that it was working with private-sector partners to trace and recover funds stolen from Binance.
“Secret Service investigators are working around the clock with our private-sector partners, including Circle, to identify, freeze, trace, and recover funds stolen from Binance on Thursday,” a spokesperson said.
QUEST DIAGNOSTICS CONFIRMS PATIENT INFORMATION ACCESSED IN CYBERATTACK, SYSTEMS TEMPORARILY SHUT DOWN
The agency said it was also coordinating with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and other law enforcement partners to identify those responsible for the breach.
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs has attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean state-sponsored hacking unit, saying it reached the assessment with high confidence based on on-chain and off-chain intelligence.
TRM Labs said the attackers moved approximately $6.36 billion out of Binance wallets across 10 blockchains, with most of the assets moved in roughly 20 minutes.
For Americans concerned about the security of their cryptocurrency holdings, Schiffer recommended carefully evaluating the financial institutions and platforms they trust with their assets.
CLICK HERE TO GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO
“If it’s crypto, are [you] with a trusted brand? Is that brand thoughtful? Is it forward thinking? Do you trust it?” he said.
Schiffer also suggested that investors consider alternatives to holding cryptocurrency directly on exchanges, including exchange-traded funds.
