North Korean hackers may be using artificial intelligence to plan and carry out cryptocurrency thefts, according to security experts quoted in a Bloomberg report published Monday. The experts point to the growing complexity and precision of recent attacks, including a record theft from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Are North Korean Hackers Using AI in Crypto Heists?
The use of AI has not been confirmed. Bloomberg presents it as the experts' assessment, not an established fact. Still, the experts believe the hackers may be using AI models to research targets, identify weaknesses and trick employees into handing over access to sensitive systems.
How Much Did Hackers Steal From Binance?
The latest warning follows an FBI alert published Saturday. The agency blamed North Korea for stealing more than $6 billion from Binance on or around October 29. It attributed the attack to a group known as TraderTraitor, which it has also linked to a $1.5 billion theft from Bybit in February 2025.
Binance estimates its losses at around $6.3 billion. According to Bloomberg, investigators believe the attackers gained access to a software engineer's laptop. That access allowed them to reach the systems responsible for processing withdrawals.
Federico Charosky of the cybersecurity firm Quorum Cyber told Bloomberg that one common tactic is to approach exchange engineers through fake job interviews. During the process, victims are persuaded to install malicious code. That gives attackers access to their devices and potentially the wider company network.
“This is an inflection point, and this attack is unprecedented,” Ari Redbord of the blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs told Bloomberg.
Redbord said North Korea had stolen roughly as much in a single evening as it had taken over the previous six years combined. Bloomberg also pointed to an April report from TRM Labs, which described recent attacks involving weeks of targeted manipulation. Researchers suggested that AI may have helped the attackers, alongside face-to-face meetings with their targets.
The scale of North Korea-linked crypto thefts has drawn attention throughout this year. In the first four months of 2026, groups associated with the country accounted for around 76% of cryptocurrency hack losses, according to crypto.news, which cited TRM Labs. Much of that damage came from two attacks in April, one targeting KelpDAO and the other Drift Protocol. Those attacks resulted in combined losses of around $600 million.
Other North Korean hacking groups have also been experimenting with AI. In August, the South Korean cybersecurity firm Genians reported that the Kimsuky group was using its own AI tools to generate malware and phishing messages. Phishing, which uses deceptive messages to trick people into revealing information or granting access, remains one of the most common ways attackers get inside a target's systems.
The extent of AI's role in the Binance theft remains unclear. Security researchers are increasingly concerned, however, that these tools could make targeted attacks easier to organize and harder to detect.
Cet article a été rédigé avec l'assistance de l'IA.
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