In 2023, $674 million worth of stolen crypto was successfully returned
A blockchain security company has published data summarizing losses due to hacking and fraud in 2023. According to the company, $2.61 billion was lost during the year, excluding multi-chain losses.
According to PeckShield in its report on January 29, the amount showed a decrease of 27.78% compared to 2022, with the total global cyber theft totaling 3.6 billion dollars.
#PeckShieldAlert 2023 saw over 600 major hacks in the crypto space, resulting in ~$2.61B in losses, with $674.9M recovered. $1.51B was lost to hacking (not including #Multichain unauthorized withdrawals) and $1.1B to fraud. This represents a 27.78% decrease from 2022. #DeFi protocols remain mainstream… pic.twitter.com/G7PIU3WyrX
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) January 29, 2024
The security firm also tracked more than $674 million in more than 600 large-scale data breaches, which is equivalent to 25% of the stolen crypto.
In a statement to Cointelegraph, the PeckShield team said that by 2022, only $133 million was estimated to be generated from hacking, a significant increase. According to the security team, the financial recovery was achieved through more active negotiations with hackers and the addition of bug bounty programs.
“Proactive negotiation with hackers can lead to the recovery of stolen funds. […] Implementing bug bounty programs or on-chain cheats to identify hackers and vulnerabilities in the system can improve security.
PeckShield also said it will work with centralized exchanges, Tether and law enforcement to recover funds when they find them.
PeckShield also highlighted various data points, including flash loans, decentralized finance (DeFi) and the sound difference between hacking and fraud, in addition to hacking. According to the data, 40% of all hacks by 2023 will involve flash credit attacks.
Additionally, while some have argued that improvements in DeFi security will reduce the amount of stolen crypto in 2023, PeckShield highlights that DeFi remains a prime target for hacking and fraud. On January 4, Certike founder Ronghui Gu told Cointelegraph that 2023 is a “positive development” in blockchain security. The executive highlighted the charity platforms and advance security measures as a good sign for the year.
Related: North Korean hackers steal less in 2023 despite more breaches – Chain analysis
Despite this, PeckShield in 2010 It highlighted that 67% of the losses by 2023 were in DFI and 33% in central finance. He also pointed out that 58 percent of the losses were caused by hacking and 42 percent by fraud.
Malicious actors are also diversifying their target crypto for their actions. From 2018 to 2021, Bitcoin (BTC) dominated the transaction volume for illegal transactions. However, in 2022 and 2023, things changed when the stablecoin started taking a bigger chunk of the illegal transaction volume.
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