October was the worst month in the history of cryptocurrency crimes, with total losses exceeding $718 million. According to Chainalysis, this amount of stolen funds from decentralized financing protocols was formed as a result of eleven different attacks.
According to the researchers, 2022 is likely to surpass the previous record year for crypto hacks. To date, the total amount of digital assets stolen by attackers for the current year has already exceeded $3 billion as a result of 125 attacks and hacks. Experts also note the unprecedented activity of hackers despite the current bear market of cryptocurrencies. Easy prey for attackers are DeFi protocols or Dapps that have not passed a thorough security audit.
For attacks in the crypto sector, blockchain-based tools are used with the ability for users to make transactions between different networks, as well as a market manipulation scheme in which fraudulent traders widely use their opportunities to move non-actively traded digital assets.
In the historically record year for crypto hacks in 2021, attackers stole more than $3.2 billion. However, the year 2022 started with an even higher surge of hacks: at the beginning there was an exploit of the popular cross-chain service Wormhole with the theft of $325 million, then the hackers’ success was crowned by an attack on the Ronin bridge Axie Infinity with the theft of $625 million, followed by the Nomad bridge exploit, in which more than $200 million was stolen.