North Korean hackers suspected in $6.3B Binance cryptocurrency theft

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 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’

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said the exchange’s security incident appeared to be a hack and thanked cryptocurrency companies that helped freeze affected assets. (Ben McShane/Sportsfile for Web Summit via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“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.

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Eric Schiffer, chairman of Patriarch and Reputation Management Consultants, warned in an interview with FOX Business that the massive Binance hack could signal a broader wave of cyberattacks. (FOX Business / FOXBusiness)

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…