Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and a senior government official, has rejected allegations that North Korea was responsible for the recent $6 billion Binance hack, disputing claims made by the FBI and blockchain investigators.
According to a report published by Yonhap News Agency on Monday, Kim criticized the FBI’s assessment linking North Korea to the attack, accusing the agency of attempting to portray the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a “cyber criminal state.”
In her statement, Kim reportedly challenged the FBI’s claim that a hacking group supported by North Korea was involved in the incident. The FBI had identified North Korea as responsible for the attack, describing the specific cyber activity as “TraderTraitor.”
The FBI’s attribution followed investigations by several blockchain security firms, including TRM Labs, which also linked the exploit to North Korean cyber actors. The FBI had not immediately responded to requests for further comment.
Investigators revealed that the attackers had prepared their operation before executing the exploit. According to TRM Labs, malicious code was deployed and tested across three wallets ahead of the attack on Thursday.
On Ethereum, the attacker reportedly exploited the EIP-7702 mechanism to convert a Binance hot wallet into a sweeper wallet under their control. The attacker also prepared 50 pre-signed authorizations to ensure that at least one would remain valid when the malicious transactions were executed.
Meanwhile, Binance has taken steps to address the financial impact of the incident. On Monday, the cryptocurrency exchange published its first proof-of-reserves update and disclosed that it had replenished approximately 95% of the affected assets using its own funds.
The dispute over responsibility for the attack adds another dimension to one of the largest cryptocurrency security incidents on record, with North Korea rejecting the allegations despite the FBI’s findings and assessments from multiple blockchain investigation firms.
Source : theblock.co Edited by Bernie
