đš Crypto Hacks Steal $460M in Q3 2024
Hackers made off with $460 million from 28 exploits in Q3 2024, marking one of the smallest losses in three years. Yet, with only 5% of funds recovered, the quarter saw the lowest recovery rate since 2021, according to Hackenâs cybersecurity report.
Biggest Threat: Access Control Exploits Access control hacks were the most damaging, accounting for nearly 70% of all losses ($316 million). Attackers took over smart contract keys to manipulate funds and upgrade proxy contracts, leading to devastating withdrawals. Vulnerabilities in smart contracts, like reentrancy attacks, also caused major losses, draining liquidity pools in a single transaction.
The biggest hit? WazirX, an Indian exchange, lost over $230 million when its Ethereum multisig wallet was compromised. This exploit sparked inside job suspicions, as no security breaches were found despite an independent audit.
Although cross-chain bridges and yield aggregators were targeted less frequently, they still endured major losses. However, a white-hat MEV bot managed to recover funds from a Ronin Bridge exploit before the hacker completed the attack.
Could These Hacks Have Been Prevented? Hacken estimates 28.7% of losses in DeFi couldâve been avoided with automated incident response systems. The Automated Incident Response Strategy can pause contracts and freeze funds upon suspicious activity, potentially mitigating the aftermath of large-scale attacks.
Examples like the Nexera exploit, where a scammer drained $1.5 million, show that such preventive systems couldâve saved millions. As the crypto space evolves, so must its security infrastructure.
What's your opinion on the potential solution with freezing funds during suspicious activity? Smart move? Drop your opinion below and follow @mende for more!
