Crypto Industry Lost $2.3 Billion Due to Cyber ​​Threats in 2024: Cyvers Report

As 2024 comes to a close, web security company3 Cyvers has released a Security, Fraud and Compliance Report for the year, detailing the impact cybercriminals and their operations had on the crypto industry.

According to an executive summary shared with cryptopotatoIn 2024, the crypto industry lost over $2.361 billion due to cyber threats in 165 incidents. This figure represents an increase of 40% compared to 2023, when losses amounted to $1.69 billion.

Access control incidents lead to more losses

Cyvers noted that access control incidents accounted for 81% of losses in 2024 despite accounting for 41.6% of incidents. This type of attack led to the theft of $1.9 billion in 67 incidents, while code vulnerabilities led to the loss of approximately $456.3 million in 98 incidents.

Meanwhile, address poisoning scams were fewer, with one incident accounting for the loss of $68.7 million.

Although fraud trends in 2024 marked a 40% increase in losses year over year, they are still 37% below 2022’s record of $3.78 billion. This year, Ethereum emerged as the network most affected by attacks, with more than $1.2 billion in losses.

Analyzing quarterly highlights, Cyvers found that smart contract vulnerabilities dominated the majority of incidents in the first quarter of 2024. The third quarter saw the largest losses, amounting to $790 million, while the fourth quarter saw the lowest activity and losses, with a decrease of 56% compared to the same quarter. in 2023. In particular, the third quarter was dominant in both 2023 and 2024.

The most notable theft incidents

The $305 million hack against Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin was one of the largest incidents in 2024, followed by the $235 million hack against Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) project Radiant Capital lost $50 million to cybercriminals after its devices were compromised. Singapore crypto exchange BingX was also mined for $52 million in digital assets.

Interestingly, 2024 saw a notable recovery rate, with over $1.3 billion returned to affected projects, which was partly attributed to bug bounty programs.

Next year, the industry could see a rise in new cyber threat trends, such as quantum and artificial intelligence attacks, as these technologies continue to advance. There could also be more case-targeted centralized finance (CeFi), as CeFi entities remain vulnerable to increased risks.

Additionally, pig slaughter scams also pose a growing threat, accounting for $3.6 billion in victim funds across more than 150,000 addresses and 800,000 transactions in 2024.