Blockchain security firm ImmuneFi reported the number of crypto hacking incidents jumped 153 percent in the third quarter compared to 2022, with the number of incidents jumping to 76 from just 30 in the same period last year.
Losses due to hacking and fraud increased to more than USD 685 million or equivalent to IDR 10.6 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of IDR 15,540 per US dollar) in the third quarter, an increase of 60 percent from around USD 429 million or equivalent to IDR 6.66 trillion in the same period. same last year.
“Q3 saw the highest losses this year, driven by large-scale attacks such as those on Mixin Network and Multichain,” said ImmuneFi CEO Mitchell Amador in a report, quoted from Crypto Briefing, Friday (6/10/2023).
Amador added that state-backed actors played an important role as they were suspected to be behind several cases this quarter.
The two biggest recent exploits, namely the Mixin Network hack worth USD 200 million or equivalent to IDR 3.1 trillion and the Multichain hack worth USD 126 million or equivalent to IDR 1.9 trillion, accounted for almost half of the total losses in the quarter.
South Korean officials blamed the Mixin hack on North Korean-sponsored hackers known as the Lazarus Group. The Lazarus Group is also suspected to be behind massive hacks of crypto exchanges CoinEx, Alphapo, and Stake as well as digital payments company CoinsPaid during the quarter.
This spike in incidents highlights the increasing sophistication of hacker groups targeting blockchain projects, as well as the complexity of the smart contract code underlying many DeFi applications.
