Solomon Samuel 
Crypto Hacks, Scams Surge 153% in Q3: Immunefi Report
From July to September 2023, crypto and Web3 initiatives experienced a 153% increase in attack incidents compared to the same period in 2022, according to a report by blockchain security platform Immunefi.
During the third quarter of 2022, thirty assault incidents arose. In Q3 2023, however, this number increased to 76. Approximately $686 million was wasted during the most recent quarter.
Immunefi Q3 2023 report. Source: Immunefi
The Mixin breach on September 25, which drained approximately $200 million, caused the greatest loss. The Multichain breach was the second-worst attack of the quarter, resulting in unrecovered losses of over $126 million.
In addition to these occurrences, the Lazarus Group drained over $208 million worth of cryptocurrencies via multiple assaults, including hacks of centralized services CoinEx, Alphapo, Stake, and Coinspaid.
The Lazarus Group was responsible for 30% of all misappropriated cryptocurrencies during the third quarter, according to a report.
A minor percentage of Q3 attacks involved rug pulls and other cons. Only $23 million, or 3.3%, of all losses were attributable to these incidents; breaches or exploits accounted for the remaining 96.7%.
Comparing the third quarter of 2018 to the third quarter of 2022, the total amount of money lost to fraud decreased by 23.9%.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) breaches accounted for 72.9% of total losses, while centralized services only accounted for 27.1% of exploit losses, according to the report. Immunefi did not specify the distinction between “decentralized” and “centralized” services.
The two networks that hackers and fraudsters targeted the most were Ethereum and BNB Chain. Ethereum accounted for 42.7% of losses, while BNB Chain accounted for 30%.
Base and optimism were the third and fourth most frequently targeted networks by assailants, respectively.
The report provides additional evidence that the third quarter of 2018 was the worst quarter for crypto-related breaches and scams. On October 2, Certik issued a report with similar findings.
