PeckShield's report reveals a concerning rise in crypto-related security breaches this year, with losses exceeding $3 billion. Hacks and scams are the primary culprits, impacting DeFi heavily. May was the worst month, but December showed a significant drop. Phishing remains a major threat, exemplified by CEO Yat Siu's compromised account and SlowMist's malware campaign.
PeckShield's latest analysis reveals a troubling spike in crypto-related security breaches in 2024 alongside a bull market. The year witnessed a resurgence in crypto-related breaches, with total losses exceeding $3.01 billion. Of this, $2.15 billion stemmed from hacks, while $834.5 million resulted from scams, representing a 15% increase in losses compared to 2023.
Despite a decline in the number of incidents over the past three years, the financial impact remains significant, particularly in the DeFi sector, which continues to account for the majority of losses. The report highlighted that May was the worst month in 2024 as losses peaked at $662.2 million, followed by $440.8 million in January. Among the top heists was the DMM Bitcoin breach, which resulted in a loss of $305 million, followed by the PlayDapp exploit with $290 million in loss. On a positive note, recovery efforts managed to reclaim $488.5 million of stolen assets. December witnessed a significant drop in crypto-related losses to $28.6 million – the lowest monthly figure of the year. Exploits accounted for $26.7 million, with Gempad suffering the largest single loss at $2.14 million. Despite this decline, phishing scams remain a critical threat, with a top victim losing $7.87 million. Animoca Brands CEO Yat Siu’s X account was compromised, using it to push a fraudulent token and steal $500,000 from crypto users. Meanwhile, a phishing campaign by SlowMist used fake Zoom links to install malware that harvested crypto wallet details, causing losses of more than $1 million. Stolen funds were then traced to laundering activities on exchanges like Binance and Gate.io, with potential ties to Russian-speaking groups. Another phishing scheme saw attackers impersonate the company through fake job offer emails to infect victims with the Monero cryptocurrency miner XMRig. The phishing emails direct job seekers to download a fake “employee CRM application” from a counterfeit CrowdStrike portal. Once installed, the malicious software performs checks to evade detection and then downloads and runs the XMRig miner in the background, using minimal system resources to avoid suspicion
CRYPTO BREACHES Defi HACKS SCAMS PHISHING
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