Binance Awards Investigators $200,000 From Cash Reward For Identifying Exchange Hackers
Binance has announced that it has given investigators $200,000 for identifying the perpetrators of the 2018 hack incident on the platform.
Binance announced in March that it was ready to give any entity that uncovers the hackers’ identity $250,000. Today, the firm awarded the cash gift to the investigators while stressing that they went ahead to explain how the hackers carried out the attack.
It should be noted that Binance suffered a heavy breach in 2018 that saw the hackers cart away millions in digital assets.
Investigators worked with law enforcement to uncover the hacker’s identity
According to the crypto exchanges official announcement on its blog, the United States Department Of Justice has uncovered the individuals’ identity that carried out the 2018 attack. After the perpetrators were identified, the office of the Foreign Assets Control announced that it would sanction them accordingly.
To carry out the attack, the hackers created a website that looked just like Binance, sent emails to known Binance users, and accessed their login from their platform before they started planning their attack. After the attack, Binance released a statement and promised whoever assisted with uncovering the hackers’ identities $250,000.
After the hack attack took place, Binance asked private investigators to work alongside law enforcement agencies to uncover the brains behind the act. According to Binance, the investigators provided so much help to the law enforcement agencies as they worked tirelessly to ensure they disclose the hacker’s identity.
Furthermore, the exchange said that law enforcement efforts should not be underestimated as they were involved during the investigations before the suspects were finally identified. In their respective statements, the US Department of Justice and Office of Foreign Assets Control pointed to two Russian nationals as the culprit.
Russian hackers still at large
In their official announcements, both agencies noted that the Russian nationals Danil Potekin and Dimitrii Kamasavidi were involved in the phishing attack on the platform in 2018. “With the degree of cooperation we got, we have identified the culprits, and they are currently on the wanted person list,” Binance said.
Even though the suspects are still fleeing, Binance said it has already forwarded $200,000 from the promised cash reward to investigations. It further noted that the balance would be paid when the suspects are finally nabbed and sent to jail for their crimes.
In the last few years, crypto users and platforms have been victims of phishing attacks, losing millions of dollars worth of crypto in the process. Presently, law enforcement agencies across the globe are advising exchanges to step up their platforms’ security as they continue to clampdown on the perpetrators of this dastardly act.
In their review, the Department of Justice announced that this same Russian criminal gang carried out attacks related to the Binance phishing attack on other platforms. The Department also announced that they had witnessed over 566 Bitcoins ($8.8 million) stolen from crypto exchanges across the country from 2017 to 2018.
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