PeckShield: Losses from hacker attacks increased by 666%

[Tomcat]

Analysts at PeckShield report an increase in the number of hacker attacks. In May, criminals stole at least $575 million. Losses exceeded the figures of May 2023 by 666%.

Losses from hacking attempts in January-March 2024 increased by 42% compared to the first quarter of 2023. Scammers are quickly adapting and are increasingly changing their methods of stealing funds, choosing the most vulnerable platforms and clients crypto wallets, experts at PeckShield lament.

Analysts emphasize that hackers refuse to search for vulnerabilities in smart contracts and focus on phishing attacks and theft of users private keys.

Criminals have long distanced themselves from hacking smart contracts, and as a result, losses from such attacks in 2023 decreased by 92% compared to 2022: from $2.6 billion to $179 million.

Now the main problem is the leak of private keys, and the increased activity of hackers is caused by a bullish trend in the cryptocurrency market, since an increase in the value of assets leads to an increase in possible benefits in case of successful hacking, PeckShield states.

 

[Carding Forum]

Analysts at PeckShield reported that hackers stole $176.2 million from cryptocurrency trading platforms in June. This is three times less than in May, when the loss of platforms working with digital assets amounted to $574.6 million.

When the crypto market was "wandering in a bearish zone", the number of hacks sharply decreased — in June, about 20 hacker attacks were carried out. At the same time, the smallest number of hacks in 2024 occurred in April, when hackers managed to appropriate crypto assets worth $60.19 million.

The total amount of cryptoassets seized by attackers since the beginning of the year has exceeded $1.5 billion. According to PeckShield estimates, the biggest hack in June was the Turkish cryptocurrency exchange BtcTurk, which lost $100.25 million. The exchange's hot wallets were compromised, allowing attackers to steal at least 10 different cryptocurrencies.

The second largest hack in June occurred on the British crypto exchange Lykke. Hackers stole 158 BTC and 2,161 ETH worth more than $22 million from the site. The top five also included UwU Lend, Holograph, and Velocore protocols with losses of $19.4 million, $14.4 million, and $6.8 million, respectively.

#PeckShieldAlert June 2024 witnessed 20+ hacks in the crypto space, resulting in
~$176.2 million in losses. This marks a decrease of 54.2% from May 2024 (w/ ~$385m in hackers' profits).#Top 5 Hacks:#Btctruk: $100.25 million (CeFi)#Lykke: $22 million (CeFi)#UwULend: $19.4… pic.twitter.com/83XzWf82kw — PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) July 1, 2024

https://twitter.com/x/status/1807662261148029227

Earlier, PeckShield analysts warned that hackers are quickly adapting and changing the way they steal funds, choosing the most vulnerable platforms. Attackers have become less likely to look for vulnerabilities in smart contracts and have focused on phishing.