The latest report from blockchain research company TRM Labs states that cryptocurrency stolen by hackers in the first half of 2024 has reached US$1.38 billion, which is twice as much as the same period last year. Among them, leakage of private keys or mnemonic phrases, flash loan attacks, and zero-transfer attacks are still the most common hacker attack methods.
Losses in the first half of 2024 amount to US$1.38 billion
Hackers stole $1.38 billion worth of cryptocurrency in the first half of 2024, more than double the $657 million stolen in the same period last year, TRM Labs Threat Intelligence said.
However, compared with the record number in 2022, it is still only two-thirds of that year:
However, every month in the first half of 2024 saw more funds stolen than in every corresponding month in 2023.
As usual, a few large attacks account for the lion's share, with the top five hacks and exploits accounting for 70% of the total amount stolen so far this year.
Main means of attack: leakage of private keys and mnemonic phrases
Among them, the main method of victimization is still the leakage of private keys and mnemonic phrases, followed by vulnerabilities in the smart contract itself and flash loan attacks.
(Solana meme currency platform Pump Fun suffered private key theft + flash loan attack)
At the same time, the company also mentioned the zero-transfer attacks (zero U address poisoning) that have emerged since last year. The victims include the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the phishing criminal tool Pink Drainer, as well as the exchange Binance that was almost fooled.
(Fishing turned out to be phishing! The criminal tool Pink Drainer accidentally fell into the zero U address poisoning trap, and 10 ETH disappeared)
Named Japanese exchange DMM hacked
In addition, TRM Labs also directly named the largest hacking incident in 2024, which was the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin hacking incident, which resulted in the loss of more than $305 million worth of Bitcoin at the time.
(Flash News｜4,503 Bitcoins were stolen from Japanese licensed exchange DMM, resulting in a loss of 48.2 billion yen)
Finally, the company also stated that the number and methods of attacks so far this year have not changed significantly compared with last year. However, due to the recovery and growth of the encryption market in the first half of this year, this may also be the reason why the amount of stolen cryptocurrency has increased compared to last year. One of the indirect reasons.
Taking stock of major hacking events in 2024
Chain News also sorted out the exchanges and protocols that have been killed in the past six months on DeFiLlama in order of loss amount:
In March, Blast’s on-chain gaming platform Munchables had an internal developer modify the protocol content, resulting in approximately $62.5 million in ETH being stolen.
In June, the private key to the hot wallet of Turkish cryptocurrency exchange BtcTurk was leaked, resulting in the theft of approximately $55 million in cryptocurrency.
In April, the derivatives protocol Hedgey Finance was attacked by vulnerability exploits (function createLocked Campaign) and flash loans, resulting in a loss of approximately US$44.7 million.
In February, the internal private key of the currency mixing platform FixedFloat was leaked, and BTC and ETH worth US$26.1 million were stolen.
(Suspected long-term lurking team of North Korean hackers, Blast certification project Munchables hacked for US$60 million)
This article takes stock of the hacking incidents in the first half of 2024: the loss amounted to US$1.38 billion, twice the same period last year. It first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.
