{"id":67988,"date":"2023-10-02T18:22:28","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T22:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/markets\/crypto\/crypto-losses-up-59-in-q3-from-cyberattacks\/"},"modified":"2023-10-02T18:22:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T22:22:30","slug":"crypto-losses-up-59-in-q3-from-cyberattacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=67988","title":{"rendered":"Crypto Losses Up 59% in Q3 From Cyberattacks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The cryptocurrency sector has increasingly become a prime target for hackers in recent years.<\/p>\n

According to a report<\/u> submitted by bug bounty and security services platform Immunefi, the Web3 space suffered a total loss worth over $685 million in Q3, 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This significant loss increase is particularly alarming given that losses suffered from hacks and frauds were over $428 million in Q2 this year.<\/p>\n

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The recent release by Immunefi denotes a whopping 59.9% increase in malicious attacks targeted at obtaining funds illegally from poorly secured blockchain protocols.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Providing more details, the platform stated that over $662 million was lost to hacks across 49 separate incidents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The remaining balance of over $22 million was lost to fraudulent investment schemes captured across 27 specific incidents.<\/p>\n

The report also disclosed more unsettling findings. According to Immunefi, Mixin Network and Multichain were among the hardest hit, with a combined loss of $326 million due to hacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This mammoth loss accounted for 47.5% of all losses recorded in Q3. Other protocols, such as CoinEx, CoinsPaid, Curve Finance, and JPEG\u2019d, also fell victim to illegal fund draining by malicious actors.<\/p>\n

Moreso, the Ethereum blockchain-based projects were the prime targets of these bad actors as a record number of 35 Web3 protocols were hit on the older blockchain protocol.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Binance-owned BNB Chain came a close second on the list, with 25 protocols seeing their funds drained.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A surprise appearance was Coinbase-owned Base, which suffered four incidents, representing 4.9% of total losses across chains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Optimism followed with three incidents, while Polygon and a few others suffered two incidents, and Solana completed the list with only 1 incident on its records.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zooming in on the principal characters behind this series of cyberattacks, the North Korean-sponsored\u00a0 Lazarus Group came up tops.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Immunefi stated that the infamous hacking team carted away over $208 million, indicating a 30% value from the total losses suffered in Q3.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lazarus Group executed its heist on CoinEx, Stake, Alphapo, and CoinsPaid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DeFi Still a Juicy Honeypot for Hackers<\/h2>\n

The crypto market is broken into several sub-sectors. One of the most prominent is the decentralized finance (DeFi) sub-sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like its name sounds, trades here are not centrally controlled, with users having direct control and access to their accounts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is no intermediary, and anyone can buy and sell digital assets. This lack of central oversight has made the DeFi space a prime target for several malicious actors.<\/p>\n

According to a report by CoinGecko<\/u>, the DeFi landscape lost an astronomical $2.8 billion in stolen funds in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The hacks were executed using various methods, including verification process bypass, market manipulation, crowd looting, as well as smart contract and bridge exploits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The report pointed out Sky Mavis\u2019 Ronin Network hack of $625 million as the principal network that lost the most in crypto losses. This security breach was done via the access hack method.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n