Hacken’s Report on 2023 Crypto Breaches

Hacken highlights concerns about incident dynamics in 2023, emphasizing the frequent targeting of BNB Chain by hackers.

Access control issues accounted for nearly half of all crypto breaches in 2023, according to a report by Hacken.

Hacks caused losses to the cryptocurrency market amounting to $1.9 billion in 2023, representing a substantial 93.6% decrease compared to 2022.

The Terra collapse was the primary catalyst for this decline, according to a research report by Hacken, a blockchain security auditor.

Analysts are concerned about the dynamics in 2023, highlighting the quantity and nature of incidents despite this decline.

Access Control Challenges Dominating Crypto Security: Hacken’s Insights

Achieving access control issues as the most detrimental vulnerability in 2023, Hacken identified a 14% increase in assaults over the previous year despite the apparent reduction in the magnitude of such breaches compared to 2022.

Data compiled in the report indicates that additional types of attacks, such as rug draws and flash loan attacks, continued to yield hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency for hackers.

With 214 recorded incidents, BNB Chain (formerly Binance Smart Chain) was the most frequently targeted network by hackers in 2023. Ethereum and Arbitrum followed with 178 and 30 incidents, respectively.

These figures, according to analysts at Hacken, could be a result of blockchain developers’ continued reluctance to audit their protocols.

In 2023, only 10% of exploited smart contracts were subject to any audit, according to the firm’s data; furthermore, “only half of these were pertinent.”

Notwithstanding this, Hacken documented instances where protocol developers implemented a distinct code in production instead of the one vetted.

However, the report concluded that 2023 may be the first year in which 20% of stolen funds (approximately $400 million) were effectively recovered from exploited smart contracts.

This achievement was made possible by the swift responses of the team and, surprisingly, the goodwill of the hackers.