Cybercrime in the crypto sector has soared in the first half of 2024, with hackers stealing nearly $1.38 billion, nearly doubling last year’s figures.
Cybercriminals have pilfered a staggering $1.38 billion from crypto investors in the first half of 2024, nearly doubling the $657 million stolen during the same period in 2023, according to data compiled by blockchain forensic firm TRM Labs.
Consistent with 2023 trends, a handful of major breaches have dominated this year’s thefts, with the top five incidents accounting for 70% of the total haul, analysts say. The most significant attack to date occurred in May when DMM Bitcoin, a Japanese crypto exchange, suffered a hacker attack, losing over 4,500 BTC valued at over $300 million at the time.
Total hacks and exploits | Source: TRM Labs
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While the nature of the hack remains unclear, TRM Labs attributes “stolen private keys or address poisoning” to potential attack vectors. “Private key and seed phrase compromises remain a top attack vector in 2024, alongside smart contract exploits and flash loan attacks,” the analysts say.
The New York-headquartered firm notes that the first six months of 2024 have seen higher theft volumes each month than the corresponding months in 2023, “with the median hack 150% larger.” Despite this surge, the analysts say thefts from hacks and exploits are a “third below the same period in 2022, which remains a record year.”
In the meantime, data from Scam Sniffer indicates that phishing scammers made over $300 million across EVM chains by targeting around 260,000 victims, marking a 6.44% increase compared to 2023. According to researchers, around $58 million worth of crypto was drained from 20 victims alone, with one victim losing $11 million, becoming the second-largest theft victim in crypto history.
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