The cryptocurrency industry faced $3 billion in losses due to hacks and fraud in 2024, representing a 15% increase from $2.61 billion in 2023, according to blockchain security firm Peckshield.

Hacks accounted for $2.15 billion — or more than 70% — of total losses, an increase of 42.38% from $1.51 billion in 2023, while fraud contributed $834.5 million, according to the security company's annual report. a report.

The stolen funds were difficult to recover in 2024. Approximately $488.5 million in stolen cryptocurrency assets were recovered, representing 27.62%. decrease Of the $674.9 million recovered in 2023.

While recovering nearly half a billion dollars is a promising step, the sheer volume of funds stolen has exposed the urgent need for better security protocols across the industry.

PeckShield did not immediately respond Decryption Request for comment.

DeFi is under fire

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols remained the most vulnerable, as their inherent vulnerabilities continued to attract cybercriminals.

Peckshield identified May as the most devastating month, with losses peaking at $662.2 million. July and August were also very active, with losses exceeding $280 million each.

However, December saw a notable decline, with losses falling to $46.5 million, the lowest monthly total of the year.

Among the biggest robberies of the year was the Japanese Stock Exchange DMM Bitcoin hack worth $305 million, followed by hack worth $290 million PlayDapp And a $238 million Bitcoin scam.

The Bitcoin scam involved a Genesis creditor falling victim to a social engineering attack by scammers pretending to support Google. The attackers stole 4,064 bitcoins. According to To onchain investigator ZachXBT.

Indian crypto exchange MinisterX and Gala games They also suffered huge losses, with $230 million and $212 million stolen respectively.

Phishing is on the rise

Last week, blockchain security firm CertiK to caution About the growing threat of phishing messages, which has emerged as the most important security challenge of 2024.

Certik noted in its annual Web3 Security Report that these scams, which trick victims into sharing sensitive information like private keys, have caused more than $1 billion in losses across 296 incidents.

The company reported an average loss per phishing transaction that exceeds most other attack vectors. At least three phishing attacks in 2024 resulted in losses exceeding $100 million each.

Meanwhile, there has been some business news in the cryptocurrency security sector. Blockchain analytics company Chainalysis recently acquired Hexagate, a Web3 security provider.

Modified by Stacey Elliott.