Binance to Make ‘Significant Changes’ and Enable Withdrawals on Tuesday

On May 8th 2019, we announced the news of the worlds largest crypto exchange, Binance, being hacked. The hack occurred on May 7th 2019 and resulted in 7,000 BTC being stolen from the Binance hot wallet. While the hack was suspected to have been carried out by multiple individuals the BTC was taken in one transaction.

Since the occurrence of the security breach CZ, CEO of Binance, has been vocally active within the community. He has been openly discussing the event when possible, even entering an AMA (ask me anything) on the day of the breach.

Withdrawals Open Tuesday

In the most recent update regarding the breach, CZ states that his team have been working through the weekend and have made “significant overhauls” to their system.

He also states that the team have added “a large number” of security features being either added or completely remade. Info on said changes will be made available at a later date.

Finally, the most recent update states that withdrawals on the Binance exchange will be reopened on Tuesday 14th May 2019. This comes after they were closed as a result of the hack.

Making Significant Changes

The attack appears to have given the Binance engineering time to give their current security checks a look under fresh eyes. In a previous update on the hack CZ states that they are making changes to the “API, 2FA, and withdrawal” areas.

In the same update CZ mentions that the exchange will also be improving the exchange’s “risk management, user behavior analysis, and KYC procedures”. This all comes as a part of their plan to find ways to fight phishing attempts.

There is also talk of further security measures being added to the exchange’s arsenal. This, however, is not explained in much detail at all. Although it is confirmed the changes made will not be visible on the front-end.

YubiKey Giveaway & External Help

A very briefly mentioned topic within the update is that of hardware device support. As a result of the hack the Binance team will be seeking to implement hardware device support. When mentioning the hardware devices CZ specifically mentions YubiKey and states that they will do a giveaway of 1,000 devices.

Finally, the report indicates that the Binance team have been working with numerous external security and analytical blockchain firms. The mention of said firms identifies the fact that they are assisting with finding the lost funds. CZ also mentions he is working with other exchanges in order to freeze stolen funds, calling it a “sort of alliance”.

Rest assured, the Binance team are working hard to ensure this doesn’t happen again and are leaving “no stone unturned”.

Love peace and happiness.