Bitcoin leads the rise, bringing attention to a significant issue. Hackers may prepare for a more successful year in 2024, potentially surpassing their achievements in 2023. In the first quarter of 2024, hackers stole $542.7 million in crypto assets, a 42% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
Cryptocurrency Market and Security Issues
According to Mriganka Pattnaik, co-founder and CEO of the crypto risk and intelligence platform Merkle Science, the primary reason is that hackers constantly change their attack vectors and seek easier targets. The notable figure shared the following statements:
“While smart contract vulnerabilities remain a concern, hackers increasingly target areas outside of smart contracts, such as private key leaks. These leaks often lead to significant losses due to phishing attacks or insecure storage practices.”
Phishing attacks involve hackers aiming to steal sensitive information like private keys of crypto wallets. Other types of phishing attacks, known as address poisoning scams, aim to trick investors into willingly sending funds to a fraudulent address resembling one they previously interacted with.
In May, an investor lost $71 million in the year’s highest-profile phishing attack. The attacker managed to send 99% of the investor’s funds to the attacker’s address. However, in an interesting turn of events, the thief returned the $71 million to the victim a week later after the incident caught the attention of blockchain investigation firms and eventually led to the attacker’s location being identified.
Notable Statement from a Prominent Figure
Smart contract vulnerabilities were among the most targeted infrastructures by hackers. However, according to Merkle Science’s 2024 Hackhub report, funds lost to smart contract vulnerabilities surprisingly fell by 92% from $2.6 billion in 2022 to 2023. According to Pattnaik, private key leaks are now the biggest concern:
“While smart contract vulnerabilities remain a security concern, a significant portion of financial losses can now be attributed to attack vectors outside the smart contract domain. The biggest security concern currently is the rapid increase in losses due to private key leaks.”
More than 55% of hacked crypto assets in 2023 were lost due to private key leaks.
