DBT Bureau
Bengaluru, 5 July
Hacking in the cryptocurrency space is on the rise as stealing of money through hacking has nearly doubled in the first half of 2024 as compared to the same period of last year.
According to cryptocurrency research firm- TRM Labs, hackers stole $1.38 billion, compared to $657 million a year ago through hacking operations. A small number of large attacks made up the lion’s share of the haul, which was a similar trend last year.
According to the TRM Labs report, the top five hacks and exploits accounted for 70% of the total amount stolen so far this year (January-June).
Hacking was mounted in several formats that included private key and seed phrase compromises, which remained a top attack vector in 2024. Smart contract exploits and flash loan attacks were the other top forms of attacks.
“In May, DMM Bitcoin, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, suffered the largest attack so far in 2024. It resulted in the theft of over 4,500 BTC, valued at over $300 million at the time. While the exact cause of the attack remains unknown, potential vectors include stolen private keys or address poisoning—a tactic wherein attackers send tiny amounts of cryptocurrency to a victim’s wallet to create fake transaction histories, potentially confusing users into sending funds to the wrong address in future transactions,” the TRM Labs report said elaborating the modus operandi of the past hacking operation.
It noted that no fundamental changes in the security of the cryptocurrency ecosystem could explain this upward trend. “However, the past six months did see significantly higher average token prices compared to this period last year; this is likely to have contributed to the increased theft volumes,” the report said.
It said that regular security audits, robust encryption, multi-signature wallets, and secure coding practices along with educating employees can protect organisations from such thefts.
