According to Cointelegraph: A comprehensive analysis of the 100 largest decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks reveals that offchain attack vectors are responsible for a significant portion of financial losses. According to Mar Guimenez-Aguilar, the lead security architect at Halborn cybersecurity firm, over 57.5% of the financial losses in the top 100 DeFi hacks were caused by offchain attack vectors.

Top 100 DeFi hacks, total value lost. Source: Halborn

Expert Insights

Mar Guimenez-Aguilar told Cointelegraph, "Compromised private keys accounted for 52.2% of all attacks in 2024 and 55.7% of the total value lost. Generally, offchain attack vectors represented 56.5% of last year’s attacks and 57.5% of the financial losses incurred."

This revelation comes nearly a month after a hacker stole over $230 million from WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, marking the second-largest cryptocurrency hack of 2024 so far.

Vulnerabilities and Investor Awareness

While smart contract vulnerabilities have historically been the biggest source of DeFi exploits, the lack of investor awareness is becoming a more significant vulnerability. Guimenez-Aguilar emphasized, "Often, the focus is intensely placed on fortifying the smart contracts’ code — which has historically been the most common attack vector — at the expense of recognizing that the protocol does not operate in isolation."

Average and standard deviation of the loss by year, USD. Source: Halborn

Market Trends and Future Outlook

Despite a 6% decrease in the number of exploits in 2023 compared to the previous year, crypto hacks in 2024 could surpass 2023 in terms of total value stolen. Halborn’s cybersecurity expert explained, "Considering the number and severity of attacks in 2024 so far, there have been approximately 14 incidents among the top 100 hacks, averaging nearly two attacks per month. If this trend continues, the total could reach about 24 attacks by year-end, slightly surpassing the total for 2023."

Alarming Statistics

- 2024 Hacks: Over $200 million lost to hacks by Feb. 29 year-to-date, marking an over 15% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
- Top Ten Hacks: Three of this year’s crypto hacks have already made it to the top ten in terms of value lost.