The number of attacks in the cryptocurrency ecosystem exploded in the second quarter of 2023: 63% more than in the same period in 2022. Nevertheless, the amounts stolen are much lower. Which blockchains are the most affected? What are the most common attacks? We see this together.
Less and less success for hackers
Attacks in the field of cryptocurrencies and particularly decentralized finance (DeFi) increased during the second quarter of 2023. The comparison with the same period of the previous year is obvious, even if the total amounts of funds stolen are lower.
This is revealed by a new report published by ImmuneFi, a platform specialized in finding bugs in Web3. This study assessed the amount of funds lost by the community due to attacks, hacks or scams during the quarter.
Although the total number of attacks increased by 65.3% year-over-yearincreasing from 49 to 81 incidents in the second quarter, and by 11% compared to the previous quarter, total losses decreased by 60.4% compared to the same period in 2022.
Indeed, we have known $265 million loss between April and June 2023, compared to $670 million over this time frame in 2022. How to interpret these data?
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First, we find that approximately half of the losses in the second quarter came from the two largest hacks, namely Atomic Wallet in June and Fintoch in May, resulting in a loss of $100 million and $31.6 million respectively.
Secondly, hacks account for the majority of losses in the second quarter, at 83.1%. Frauds, scams and rug pulls represent only 16.9% of losses. However, out of all lost funds, losses from hacks decreased by 66.4% and losses from frauds, scams and rug pulls increased by 225.4% compared to Q2 2022.
These are two statistics that shed even more light the multiplication of small targeted attacks at the expense of large hacks. This speaks to a change in attacker behavior in decentralized finance (DeFi), but also a reinforcement of the defense systems of the major protocols.
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Which blockchains are most affected?
During the second quarter, the most targeted chains were the BNB Chain and Ethereum. BNB Chain experienced 36 incidents, accounting for 44.4% of losses, while Ethereum saw 26, accounting for 32.1%. Finally, Polygon and zkSync only have two attacks each.
As for Arbitrum, the blockchain had not experienced any incidents in the second quarter of 2022. On the other hand, 2023 proved to be a dark year with 10 major incidents in the second quarter of this year. In addition, it is the third most targeted blockchain for two consecutive quarters, with a total of 18 incidents since the start of the year.
This last statistic is not particularly surprising. Last March, Arbitrum was at the heart of the news with a massive and long-awaited airdrop by the community. So, scams have multiplied with the ambition of stealing funds from the most gullible investors. In addition, a multitude of projects have emerged very quickly, presenting security flaws that hackers have been quick to exploit.
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Source: ImmuneFi Report
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Journalist for Cryptoast, I strive to dissect every detail of the exciting world of cryptocurrencies and make it accessible and understandable to as many people as possible.
Lilian Aliaga
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