Crypto Industry Lost $2.3B to Cyber Threats in 2024: Cyvers Report

by

As a seasoned analyst with over two decades of experience under my belt, I’ve seen the evolution of cyber threats and their impact on various industries, but the crypto world has undeniably been a rollercoaster ride. The 2024 Cyvers Security, Fraud, and Compliance Report is yet another testament to this reality.

Approaching the close of 2024, the cybersecurity company Cyvers has unveiled a comprehensive report on Security, Fraud, and Compliance, outlining the extent to which cybercrime activities have influenced the cryptocurrency sector throughout the year.

Based on a summary provided to CryptoPotato, it’s estimated that in the year 2024, the cryptocurrency sector experienced a staggering loss of approximately $2.361 billion due to cyber attacks across 165 separate incidents. This represents a significant jump of around 40% compared to the losses suffered in 2023, which amounted to $1.69 billion.

Access Control Incidents Lead to More Losses

In 2024, Cyvers found that 81% of all losses were due to access control issues, even though they only made up 41.6% of total incidents. These attacks resulted in a theft of approximately $1.9 billion spread over 67 instances, while code vulnerabilities caused about $456.3 million in losses across 98 separate occurrences.

Simultaneously, instances of poisoning scams decreased significantly, with a single occurrence resulting in a loss of approximately $68.7 million.

In contrast to a 40% rise in financial losses due to fraud in 2024 compared to the previous year, these losses still fall short of the 2022 record by 37%, which stood at $3.78 billion. Notably, it was Ethereum that experienced the highest level of attacks this year, resulting in over $1.2 billion worth of losses.

Examining the key points from the analysis, it was discovered that vulnerabilities in smart contracts were primarily responsible for most occurrences in Q1 of 2024. The third quarter experienced the greatest losses, totaling $790 million, while Q4 had the least activity and financial losses, showing a decrease of 56% compared to the same period in 2023. It’s worth noting that Q3 was significant in both 2023 and 2024.

The Most Notable Theft Incidents

The $305 million hack against the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin was one of the largest incidents in 2024, followed by the $235 million hack against the Indian crypto exchange WazirX.

In a recent incident, the DeFi project Radiant Capital suffered a loss of $50 million when their systems were hacked by cybercriminals. Similarly, BingX, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Singapore, experienced an exploit resulting in a theft of $52 million worth of digital assets.

Looking back at 2024, I found myself quite amazed by the impressive recovery pace we witnessed. Remarkably, over $1.3 billion was reclaimed by affected crypto projects that year – an outcome partly due to the effectiveness of bug bounty programs.

In the upcoming year, we might witness an increase in novel cyber threats such as those utilizing quantum computing and AI, given their ongoing technological development. Additionally, there may be a rise in incidents targeting centralized financial systems (CeFi) due to the continued exposure of these entities to elevated risks.

Moreover, it’s important to note that pig butchering scams are becoming increasingly concerning, with an estimated $3.6 billion being lost by victims through approximately 1.3 million transactions involving over 150,000 different digital wallet addresses in the year 2024.

Read More

2024-12-22 17:52