In the first month of 2024, hackers caused $73.9 million in damage to the cryptocurrency industry, according to data from the Immunefi platform, which specializes in security and vulnerability detection in Web3 space. In just 31 days, there were 19 successful attacks, a 44% decrease from the same period last year.
Despite the severity of the situation, experts highlight positive trends. Last January, cybercriminals stole almost double the amount compared to this year, totaling $133 million. However, the stolen funds increased ninefold compared to December 2023.
The majority of the damage was caused by two major attacks. The largest incident took place at the Phemex Exchange in Singapore, where hackers siphoned off $69.1 million. The second significant breach occurred at the decentralized platform Moby Trade, resulting in a loss of $2.5 million.
Other victims included Orange Finance, IPC, Uniland Finance, The Idols NFT, Odos, Laura AI, Pika Infinity, and Sorra. Interestingly, all attacks in January were technical in nature, with no instances of fraud.
The most vulnerable network to attacks was BINANCE, experiencing ten successful hacks, accounting for 50% of all incidents. A quarter of the attacks targeted the Ethereum blockchain, with instances recorded in Arbitrum, Base, and Optim networks.
Centralized financial services (CEFI) suffered the most significant losses, totaling over $69 million, constituting 93% of the total damage. In contrast, decentralized platforms (DeFi) proved more resilient, with total losses of under $4.8 million, approximately 6.5% of the total damage.
Immunefi Founder and CEO, Mitchell Amador, foresees continued targeting of centralized platforms by cybercriminals. He emphasized the vulnerability associated with the storage of private keys in these services, making them high-value targets for attackers.
While decentralized protocols are more prone to bugs and vulnerabilities, their impact typically does not lead to complete loss of funds. In contrast, compromised private keys in centralized exchanges pose a severe threat by granting attackers access to all site assets.
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