Record $700 Million Crypto Loss in Q3 2023 Due to Security Breaches: CertiK Report
Summary:
The third quarter of 2023 saw record-breaking losses of nearly $700 million in digital assets due to security breaches, according to blockchain security firm CertiK's quarterly report. The report indicated 184 security incidents during this period, with private key compromises causing the most financial damage. It also highlighted several cases of exit scams and oracle manipulation, and pointed out the ongoing threat from North Korea’s hacking group Lazarus. Notably, the exploitation of the Mixin Network contributed significantly to these losses, depleting assets worth $200 million.
In the year 2023, the third quarter proved to be the most financially devastating with almost $700 million in digital assets lost to security breaches. This finding is part of blockchain security company CertiK's quarterly study. The report underscored that between July and September, a total of 184 security incidences took place. The financial losses in the realm of cryptocurrencies during this period exceeded $699 million, outshining the $320 million and $313 million lost during Q1 and Q2 respectively. The emphasis of the report was on private key infiltrations which topped the chart of most cost-intensive exploits, resulting in a loss exceeding $204 million over 14 incidences. As per the report, the Multichain event, where the CEO retained exclusive control over private keys, incurred a hefty loss of $125 million. This incidence underscored the latent vulnerability in a centralized key management, which led to a halt of Multichain's operations. Apart from invasions on private keys, Q3 also witnessed a surge in exit scams and oracle manipulations. The report illustrated that a total of 93 exit scams took away $55 million in digital assets and 38 oracle manipulation episodes garnered over $16 million in crypto. Concerning crypto hacks, the exploitation of cross-chain protocol Mixin Network played a significant role in shaping up September as the year's worst month for crypto invasions. On September 25, all deposit and withdrawals were put on hold after an emergency; later, it surfaced that the company's mainnet assets worth $200 million were depleted. The report from CertiK further illustrated that lawnmowertruman, the notorious hacking group from North Korea, remained a dominant threat throughout the quarter. The group accounted for a whopping sum of $291 million in verified losses for 2023 and remains active in Q3.
Published At
10/2/2023 9:01:13 AM
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