Claude Code extension backdoored, $6.3B Binance hack

A version of Anthropic's Claude Code extension for VS Code, published on the Cursor marketplace, contained a backdoor and stayed up for nearly 12 hours. Cursor published a security notice. It is still unknown how attackers got access to Anthropic's verified Cursor account. The story drew over 750 points on Hacker News, and Lobsters carried a report of backdoors in both the VS Code and Cursor official extensions.

Ars Technica, phorion.io, doublepulsar.com, cyberplace.social, HN

Starting around 4pm ET Thursday, hackers drained about $6.3B in crypto from Binance wallets across multiple blockchains, most of it in roughly 20 minutes according to TRM Labs. Binance suspended deposits and withdrawals and says about half the funds have been frozen. Elliptic, TRM and another tracing firm point to North Korea; Elliptic says the theft would almost double what the regime has stolen in crypto to date. Chainalysis says the laundering used automated patterns not seen before.

wired.com, npr.org, Techmeme, HN

Northflank told users that some have reported unauthorised use of AI API keys stored on the platform. The company's guidance is to assume all environment variables are compromised and rotate every secret and credential, and to disable public access to addons. It has enabled secret rotation on Postgres and MongoDB for all users. The investigation is ongoing.

status.northflank.com, HN

A researcher published a third write-up on Azure Logic Apps API Connections, describing five more full cross-tenant compromises. He says the flaws let an attacker take over any other connection worldwide, including Key Vaults, Azure SQL databases, Jira and Salesforce. The bugs earned him $200,000 in total.

binarysecurity.no, HN

Andy Yen cancelled near company-wide re-interviews in which employees would explain their AI use, according to six employees and all-hands audio obtained by 404 Media. The move followed 404 Media's investigation showing Yen pushing AI across Proton despite employee security concerns. Many users have called for him to resign.

404media.co, HN

Intel closed down 28.58% Friday, its worst day since the 1970s, after weaker guidance, wiping about $12B off the US government's stake. Reddit fell 29.27% after forecasting weak Q4 revenue. Alphabet fell 12% Thursday, shedding over $500B, after saying AI summaries were affecting search ad revenue, and slipped another 1.4% Friday. The Nasdaq had its worst month since March 2025. Alphabet, Meta, Oracle, Amazon and Microsoft have committed more than $3T to AI spending in coming years, and returned just 9.3% of cash to shareholders in the first three quarters of 2026, a 15-year low.

bbc.co.uk, Techmeme, TechCrunch, HN

Google says its prototype Suncatcher satellite, launched October 1, is communicating with the ground. Its TPUs booted and the onboard Gemma 4 model generated a haiku about being in space.

Techmeme, TechCrunch, The Verge

Blackstone says Anthropic may not secure an investment-grade rating after its IPO, and the FT reports a high junk rating is expected from credit agencies. TechCrunch notes the forecast is only a prediction. A junk rating would make it harder and costlier to raise the money for Anthropic's large spending.

ft.com, TechCrunch, HN

Anthropic renamed its $100 per month Max 5x plan to Max and its $200 per month Max 20x plan to Ultra. Prices are unchanged and subscribers need to do nothing. The 5-hour limit is removed for verified Ultra accounts.

Techmeme

OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic say they will adopt a new standard that lets publishers set AI training preferences once across multiple crawlers, rather than company by company. It uses a shared "policy token" signal.

Techmeme, The Verge

Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rune Technologies, which makes military logistics and sustainment software and hardware, for a new defense unit. Two sources put the price at $375M in cash and stock; Salesforce did not disclose terms. Rune had raised $30M from a16z and others.

Techmeme, TechCrunch

Bloomberg's sources say Baseten is raising around $2B in two tranches, one valuing it at $26B and the other at $30B. It was valued at $13B in June after raising $1.5B. Separately, chip startup Powerlattice raised $86M, according to an SEC filing.

Techmeme