Hackers stole $718 million worth of cryptos from DeFi protocols in 11 different hacks in October, American blockchain analysis firm, Chainalysis, said in a report.
The report predicts that at this rate, "2022 will likely surpass 2021 as the biggest year for hacking on record.” Cybercriminals have already looted over $3 billion in 125 hacks so far this year.
In 2021, attackers made more than $3.2 billion. However, 2022 got off to an even worse start with $325 million Wormhole vulnerability, a $625 million attack on Axie Infinity's Ronin Bridge, the $200 million Nomad Bridge exploit, and a $200 million Wormhole hack. The report further noted that in 2019, most hacks were on centralized exchanges. Now, the attacks are targeted at DeFi protocols.
"Cross-chain bridges remain a major target for hackers, with 3 bridges breached this month and nearly $600 million stolen, accounting for 82% of losses this month and 64% of losses all year," the report said.
Last week, bug bounty platform Immunefi said in its report that global crypto market losses due to hacks and scams fell 36 per cent to $428 million in the third quarter of 2022 from $670 million in the previous quarter.
Fraud constituted seven per cent of the total losses and hacks accounted for 93 per cent in the quarter. "The global Web3 space was valued at $3 trillion in 2021, and with billions locked across different smart contracts, this capital represents an unparalleled, attractive opportunity for blackhat hackers," it said.
The popular Mango Markets trading protocol of Solana lost $100 million in liquidity on Tuesday night as a result of a rogue trader manipulating spot token prices to borrow all of the protocol's assets in order to cover their position.
DeFi is a broad term that includes a lot of different functionalities and applications. Such applications involve no regulatory body or central bank or any one person for that matter and are completely decentralized and void of any control by a single entity.
