Binance founder and current main character of crypto, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, has allegedly been targeted by the notorious North Korean state-sponsored hackers, Lazarus Group, in an attempt to gain access to his Google account.
CZ took X, posting a screenshot of the warning message alleged to be from Google, asking his followers whether they had received similar threat notifications from Google and speculating who could be behind it.
The majority of CZ’s reported $90Bn fortune comes from his early investment into Bitcoin
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and BNB, both of which are up 10,000x on his entries.
Binance Founder CZ Believes North Korea’s Lazarus Group Could be Behind Phishing Attempt
CZ suspected that the state-sponsored hacking attempt might have been orchestrated by the notorious Lazarus Group, which is known to be supported by North Korea.
In a post on X, CZ wrote: “I occasionally receive this warning from Google. Does anyone know what it means? Is it related to North Korea’s Lazarus Group? I don’t have anything significant in my account, but let’s stay SAFU.”
The ‘Google’ notification stated: “Google may have detected state-sponsored attackers attempting to steal your password.” The likelihood is that the Google notification was, in fact, fake and a phishing attempt by the hackers, whether Lazarus or another entity.
I get this warning from Google once in a while. Does anyone know what this is? North Korea Lazarus?
Not that I have anything important on my account. But stay SAFU. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/FCTIrcQG2C
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 10, 2025
CZ reassured everyone that the targeted account contained no important information but urged the community to remain vigilant, with community members replying to the Binance founder, imploring him to change his passwords and secure his accounts.
If hackers were to gain access to crypto-related accounts of the Binance founder, they could find themselves in possession of over $90Bn, which is the estimated net worth of CZ, making him a top target for hackers around the world.
North Korean hackers are known for employing various techniques to breach the accounts of high-net-worth individuals and, even more damaging, to crypto exchanges.
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Lazarus Reportedly Behind the $1.5Bn ByBit Hack and Failed Attempt to Infiltrate Kraken
Kraken, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, caught a North Korean agent trying to infiltrate the company through a job interview earlier this year. Kraken noticed something was wrong when the interviewee used a different name from the one listed on his resume.
The Lazarus Group member also failed to answer basic questions about his listed hometown in Texas when asked, which further raised suspicions of the Kraken team conducting the interview.
Kraken was extra vigilant, as just a few months prior to the interview, the Lazarus Group had successfully hacked ByBit for over $1.5Bn, the largest hack of any exchange in history.
The hacker group exploited the UI of the ByBit Safe multisig cold wallet via a sophisticated phishing attack, masking the specific transaction, which resulted in a change in the smart contract logic of the ETH cold wallet. This allowed hackers to transfer the funds from the compromised cold wallet, splitting them across 39 addresses.
It is estimated that the Lazarus Group has stolen well over $6Bn to date and could even be as high as $10Bn as some high-profile hacks have never been directly linked to the North Korea-backed group.
(SOURCE: Crystal Intelligence)
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