Binance says fake job interviews helped hackers steal a record $6.3bn. Here is how it worked, and what to do differently.

The job interview was real. The interviewers were not.

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, says hackers who stole a record $6.3bn (about £4.7bn) got in partly through fake job interviews.

One of its engineers was contacted through a legitimate job site. The 'company representatives' he met were fake. They even shared social media accounts with personal photos to build trust.

In the second interview, he was asked to download an 'assignment'. It was malware.

Binance says the attackers then used his computer and an internal AI tool to take over two other engineers' laptops.

This is not a story about one careless person. These were patient, convincing people.

The lesson applies to everyone, not just engineers: a genuine platform does not make a genuine person. A job site can show that an account exists. It cannot tell you who is behind it.

A few habits that help:

Never install software or run a 'test' file just because a recruiter asked.

If a coding task has to be run, use a separate device, never your work laptop.

Check the company through its own website and phone number, not the links they send.

A real employer will not mind you checking.

If you hire engineers

The same lesson applies from the other side of the table. If your process includes a take-home task, make it something candidates can do in a browser or an online sandbox, not a file they have to download and run. Say clearly in writing what you will and will not ask them to install. Give them a named contact they can verify through your company website. Good candidates are learning to be careful. A process that respects that will look more trustworthy, not less.

When you have interviewed engineers, have you set take-home tasks, and how did you make sure candidates never had to run untrusted code on their own machines?

Source: BBC News, 'Binance says fake job interviews used as part of $6.3bn crypto hack' (3 November 2026)