Hackers have outdone themselves these past months after resurfacing from a summer hiatus
So Many Exploits
Four new exploits by hackers have been reported just this week alone. Tuesday $718 million was reported as being stolen from across 11 different Defi protocols, all according to data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
It has only been two weeks and so far October is still the biggest month so far for hackers and their exploits. With the amount stolen this month the yearly total of assets stolen has surpassed the $3B mark across 125 different hacks. At this rate, 2022 will surpass the high of $3.2 billion stolen last year.
Mango Markets has been the biggest hit this month with over $100 million stolen. There was also $1 million stolen from the bridge that connects QANplatform to the Ethereum network, over $100 million stolen from BNB, 2.3 million stolen from TempleDAO, and a recent attack on Rabby Wallet.
Not The Plan
2022 wasn’t meant to be the year of the crypto thief. Going into the new year there were hopes for the NFT market to continue the momentum it had started late in 2021, instead, it seems that the thieves that took advantage of Defi in the early part of 2021 are now back with a vengeance creating more havoc in 2022. The collapse of TerraUSD and the bankruptcy of three major crypto businesses — Three Arrows Capital, Voyager Digital, and Celsius created a slowdown not just in trading but in thievery as well. At that time illicit activity had fallen by 15% according to Chainalysis.
As the market seems to be picking up so does the hacking- and in a big way. Chainalysis wrote that cross-chain bridges remain a major market as three bridges were breached this month alone with almost $600 million stolen, this accounts for 82% of losses for the month but 64%of losses for the year.
Security
The issue is the same as always there needs to be better security in web3. Too many loopholes and exploits are the recipes for disaster when it comes to crypto. Perhaps once security comes to web3 real growth can be made in the sector
