Security Breach of Binance Co-CEO’s WeChat Account
On December 9, a significant security breach occurred when the WeChat account of Yi He, co-CEO of Binance, was compromised. This incident utilized an outdated account associated with one of He’s old phone numbers, allowing hackers to promote a memecoin named MUBARA, also known as Mubarakah, in a premeditated pump-and-dump scheme.
Details of the Incident
After seizing control of the account late on that day, the perpetrators initiated a series of posts that portrayed MUBARA as a highly promising investment, which quickly attracted attention from her contacts in the cryptocurrency community. The swift dissemination of these messages led traders to flock to the market, causing MUBARA’s price to skyrocket from approximately $0.001 to $0.008 in a matter of minutes. This rapid increase pushed the coin’s market capitalization to around $8 million, leading to significant trading activity on decentralized exchanges built on the BNB Chain.
Investigation and Findings
Investigative tool Lookonchain uncovered that prior to the misleading promotions, the hackers had created two new wallets, which they used to acquire about 21.16 million MUBARA tokens for a total of 19,479 USDT. Their transactions took place roughly seven hours before the promotional posts went live. Following the increase in liquidity and successful promotion, the hackers began to offload their holdings. By the morning of December 10, they had sold 11.95 million tokens for 43,520 USDT, leaving them with 9.21 million tokens still valued at around $31,000. Their estimated earnings from the transaction were nearly $55,000, although this could increase as they retained some holdings. After the sell-off commenced, the value of MUBARA plummeted by over 60%.
Community Response and Warnings
Numerous prominent figures on social media observed and reported on the wallet activities suggesting potential insider knowledge among certain traders about the forthcoming posts. Following the incident, Chang Peng Zhao, the founder of Binance, cautioned users against engaging with any messages originating from Yi He’s compromised account. He highlighted the vulnerabilities present in web2 platforms, emphasizing the need for improved security measures.
Conclusion
Yi He confirmed the account’s hijacking, lamenting that it was abandoned and beyond recovery, and urged her followers to disregard any token promotions from that account. This incident serves as a stark reminder of how weaknesses in social media security can have far-reaching consequences in the cryptocurrency market, particularly within trading networks that operate in China, such as WeChat.
