MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/. The scale of the hacker attack on cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which resulted in the withdrawal of approximately $6.3 billion, has exceeded the combined losses suffered by the crypto market from hacks over the previous two years, Olga Goncharova, head of the Digital Financial Assets and Digital Currencies Expert Center of the Association of Banks of Russia, told TASS.
"The bulk of the funds was siphoned off in just 20 minutes – more was taken from the exchange than hackers stole from the entire crypto market over the last two years. This is a classic 'black swan' – an event no one anticipated that has instantly rewritten the industry's entire statistics. Hundreds of minor incidents occur over the years, and then one single event happens that overshadows years of data. You cannot prepare for this based on average figures. Security must be built with the worst-case scenario in mind," she noted.
According to the expert, despite the scale of the attack, it is premature to speak of critical flaws in Binance’s security system. "I know Binance from the inside. Their security team has always been one of the strongest in the industry, so I wouldn't call it a critical error just yet. It is more likely a case of social engineering," Goncharova explained.
Earlier, the Binance press office stated that the attackers may have gained access to the exchange’s internal infrastructure via a compromised work laptop belonging to one of its engineers. The exchange estimated the scale of the incident at approximately $6.3 billion and announced plans to compensate all losses using its SAFU insurance fund and corporate resources.
