Crypto hacks and scams grew by over 150% in Q3 2023: Immunefi report

Key takeaways

Crypto buyers misplaced practically $700 million to hacks and scams

Blockchain safety platform Immunefi printed its quarterly business safety report for the third quarter of 2023.

Per the report, crypto and web3 initiatives recorded a 153% improve in assaults within the quarter that ended September, in comparison with the identical interval in 2022. In Q3 2022, there have been 30 crypto hacks and scams. 

Nevertheless, this determine grew to 76 within the third quarter of 2023, with practically $686 million misplaced within the course of. 

The Mixin hack that passed off on September 25 was essentially the most notable, with the attackers stealing roughly $200 million from the platform. Multichain additionally suffered an assault within the third quarter of the 12 months, leading to over $126 million in losses which can be but to be recovered. The assault resulted in Multichain ceasing operations in July. 

Lazarus Group leads the best way in crypto theft

The Lazarus Group was the most well-liked attacker in Q3 2023, because it stole over $208 million value of cryptocurrencies by way of a number of assaults. The group attacked centralised companies CoinEx, Alphapo, Stake, and Coinspaid and was liable for  30% of all stolen crypto within the earlier quarter. 

Immunefi reported that solely a small portion of assaults within the final quarter have been rug pulls and different scams. Round $23 million was misplaced to rug pulls and different scams, accounting for less than 3.3% of complete losses. The report highlighted that funds misplaced by way of rug pulls and scams decreased by 23.9% in comparison with Q2 2022.

Decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols proceed to be the goal of hackers as they account for roughly 73% of complete losses. Centralised companies, in the meantime, accounted for round 27% of exploit losses. 

Tasks on the Ethereum and BNBChain blockchains stay the first goal of attackers. Ethereum initiatives accounted for 42.7% of the losses, whereas BNBChain recorded 30.6%. Q3 2023 is to this point the worst quarter of the 12 months by way of crypto hacks and scams, the report concluded.