Cyber Criminals Siphoned Off Over $2B In Crypto In 2023, Half Of Previous Year

Cybercriminals managed to steal more than $2 billion in crypto assets in 2023. However, the circumstances were comparatively less severe compared to 2022, as the crypto market witnessed a 50% decline in the value of stolen crypto, a blockchain security firm said in a report.

The rapid expansion of the emerging cryptocurrency industry has been accompanied by the proliferation of cyber criminals who seek to exploit vulnerabilities, weak security measures, and unsuspecting victims to embezzle as much cryptocurrency as possible.

According to blockchain security firm Beosin, the aggregate value of cryptocurrency stolen in cyberattacks has witnessed a decline for the first time since 2020 as the amount stolen in crypto hacks is on a downtrend and is 50% lower than the amount pilfered by malicious actors in 2022.

In its latest report, the blockchain security firm revealed that the cryptocurrency industry witnessed 191 major attacks in 2023, resulting in significant losses of approximately $1.397 billion. Moreover, there were 267 instances of "rug pulls," which led to thefts of around $388 million in cryptocurrencies, and approximately $298 million lost to phishing scams.

Out of the 191 attacks, 68% targeted DeFi projects, resulting in the highest losses of $408 million. This accounted for 29.2% of the total losses incurred, Beosin said.

According to the report, 2023 exhibited a wide range of attacks compared to the previous year, including the use of Web2 tactics such as database compromise, supply chain attacks, third-party service provider attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, DNS attacks, and front-end attacks.

Despite the losses, around 52% of the stolen crypto assets, approximately $723 million, remain in the wallets of cybercriminals. Beosin said that these cybercriminals have "adopted intricate money laundering methods, utilizing cross-chain transfers and dispersing funds across multiple addresses, posing challenges for investigations by both project teams and regulators."

Despite this, the report highlighted that criminal activities like hacking, phishing scams, and rug pulls witnessed a significant decline compared to 2022, with total losses down by 53.9% in 2023.

Of these criminal activities, crypto hacking saw a 61.2% decrease, with losses dropping to $1.397 billion in 2023 from $3.6 billion in 2022. Losses due to phishing scams decreased by 33.2%, and losses due to rug pulls decreased by 8.8% compared to 2022.