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According to a report from blockchain security platform Immunefi, Crypto and Web3 projects experienced a 153% rise in attack incidents from July to September 2023 compared to the same timeframe in 2022. In Q3 2022, there were a total of 30 attack incidents, but this figure increased to 76 in Q3 2023. The recent quarter saw nearly $686 million lost.
Immunefi Q3 2023 report. Source: Immunefi
The most significant loss was attributed to the Mixin hack on September 25, which siphoned off around $200 million. The Multichain hack followed as the second most damaging attack of the quarter, leading to losses exceeding $126 million that remain unrecovered. Additionally, the Lazarus Group extracted over $208 million in cryptocurrency through various attacks, including breaches of centralized platforms CoinEx, Alphapo, Stake, and Coinspaid. The report indicated that the Lazarus Group accounted for 30% of all stolen cryptocurrency in Q3.
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A minor fraction of Q3 attacks involved rug pulls and other fraudulent schemes. Only $23 million, or 3.3% of total losses, stemmed from these incidents, while the remaining 96.7% resulted from hacks or exploits. Overall, financial losses from scams in Q3 saw a decline of 23.9% compared to Q3 2022.
The report indicated that decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks constituted 72.9% of total losses, whereas centralized services accounted for just 27.1% of exploit losses. Immunefi did not clarify how they differentiated between “decentralized” and “centralized” services.
The two networks that faced the most attacks from hackers and scammers were Ethereum and BNB Chain. Ethereum accounted for 42.7% of losses, while BNB Chain represented 30.5%. Base and Optimism were the third and fourth most targeted networks by attackers.
The report further substantiates that Q3 has been the most challenging quarter of the year for crypto-related hacks and scams. A report from Certik on October 2 reached similar conclusions.
