According to Cointelegraph: As per blockchain security firm CertiK's recent quarterly report, the third quarter of 2023 has proved to be the most detrimental for the crypto scene, with digital assets' losses amounting to nearly $700 million across various security incidents. These figures significantly overshadow the $320 million and $313 million losses in the first and second quarters respectively.
The report underlines that the most damaging causes of these losses were compromises of private keys, accounting for over $204 million losses spread across 14 distinct incidents. In particular, the Multichain incident, where the CEO solely controlled private keys, resulted in a staggering loss of $125 million. This highlighted the critical issue of centralizing the control of private keys, contributing to potential vulnerabilities. Additionally, significant losses resulted from exit scams and oracle manipulations, which accounted for over $55 million and $16 million, respectively.
September witnessed the worst crypto exploit of the year, primarily due to a security breach at the Mixin Network causing a whopping $200 million worth of assets to drain from its mainnet.
The report alarmingly indicates that North Korea's state-affiliated hacking group, Lazarus, continues to be a significant threat, causing confirmed losses of at least $291 million in 2023. Bewilderingly, their activities continued unabated in the third quarter, providing further challenges to the crypto industry's security landscape.