The first quarter of 2024 will see a crisis in the cryptocurrency market, with total losses reported due to hacks and fraud witnessed. $336.3 million loss.
While this figure is indeed alarming, it also represents a slight decrease from the previous year and reflects both subtle and unmistakable changes in the economy.
DeFi vulnerabilities report
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) systems have become a prime target for cybercriminals, causing massive financial losses in the cryptocurrency space. According to new findings, DeFi accounted for 100% of attacks detected in the first quarter, and centralized finance (CeFi) platforms completed such attacks during this period. The data shows higher risk associated with DeFi platforms, which despite their new status are still an attractive target for criminals.
Two major events were effective in the financial losses in the quarter and accounted for 43% of all losses. The most important of these is the $81.7 million attack on the Orbit Bridge protocol used during the New Year’s celebration, which indicates the risk of hackers. This was driven by the $62 million breach of Blast-based NFT game Munchables; Here, in conversations with hackers, the stolen funds were recovered within 24 hours.
There is a money chain in such cases: Seven crimes resulted in the success of $73.9 million, which is 22% of the money stolen. In addition, the total number of attacks decreased by 17.6% compared to the previous year, indicating that efforts to strengthen security measures will be effective.
Combating hacking and fraud
The report explores the prevalence of various types of attacks in the business world; Hacking accounts for 95.6% of all losses across 46 cases, including financial attacks. impact of fraud, scams and claims (remaining 4.4%). This distribution highlights the importance of protecting technology from cyber threats!
Ethereum has once again become the most targeted blockchain network, with more activity than the BNB chain. The losses shared by both networks underscore the ongoing need to improve security measures across all platforms. The report also identifies various blockchains affected by the attack, including Arbitrum, Solana, Optimism, Bitcoin, Blast, Polygon, Conflux Network and Base, and touches upon the extent of threat.
Immunefi plays an important role in increasing the security of the crypto ecosystem. The platform has paid out more than $95 million in bounties, offering large sums of money to identify and resolve vulnerabilities, and claims to have protected more than $25 billion in user accounts across multiple platforms. Arrangements include Chainlink, The Graph, Synthetix and MakerDAO. This effective security defense has become an essential part of the business’ strategy to defend against this ever-changing threat.
Conclusion
The first quarter of 2024 has highlighted ongoing competition and changing threats when you first encounter cryptocurrency trading. While the reduction in overall losses and the success of large-scale thefts offer some hope, Immunefi’s report is an important reminder that security and collaboration urgently need to improve to prevent hackers and fraud. As the industry continues to expand and innovate, a collective commitment to protecting the ecosystem to ensure trust and security for all participants is vital.
