Hacken, a prominent blockchain security platform, has recently released its security report covering 2024. The report points out that the crypto sector saw 78% (nearly $1.7B) of the overall losses in 2024 due to access breaches, excluding phishing, denoting the requirement for better operational security and key management.
Hacken’s Web3 security report also discloses a 40% decrease in DeFi hack losses while a 2x increase in CeFi hack losses. Moreover, metaverse and gaming entities accounted for 18% of the losses but bridge hacks plunged by 94% since 2022. The report asserted highlights Solana as the main spot platform experiencing rug pulls, powered by memecoin projects.
Access Breaches Dominate Crypto Losses of 2024 with an Enormous 78%
In its Web3 Security Report for 2024, Hacken revealed that the year witnessed a staggering $1.7B in access breaches. These hacks reportedly account for up to 78% of the total crypto losses over the entire year. This signifies a sheer increase from $1B recorded in the previous year. On the other hand, the smart contract exploits added only 14% of the cumulative losses, emphasizing the unauthorized access as a dominant threat.
CeFi Hacks $500M in Cumulative Losses Losses
Additionally, the centralized finance sector recorded more than $500M in overall losses. Access control weaknesses played a major role in the respective hacks with WazirX and CMM Exchange as the top centralized exchanges going through these incidents. However, in the world of decentralized finance, the Radiant Capital served as the chief example with a $55M in an incident that impacted up to 10,000 victims because of endless token approvals. Moreover, BNB Chain and Arbitrum are also witnessing new victims.
PlayDapp, DMM Exchange, WazirX, and Radiant Capital Experience the Key Exploits during 2024
During the Q1 of 2024, the PlayDapp hack solely accounted for 29% of the total hacks because of access breaches. It incurred losses of $290M with 1.8B $PLA tokens that the exploiters minted with unauthorized access. In the 2nd quarter, DMM Exchange went through a loss of $305M, denoting 40% of the cumulative Q2 hacks as the hacker transferred 4502.9 $BTC to an anonymous wallet.
The 3rd quarter was marked by the hack of WarizX Exchange which accounted for almost 42.8% of the total Q3 hacks with 230M in losses. Following that, Radiant Capital saw a $55M exploit resulting from a security breach. This amount indicates 19.5% of the overall Q4 losses.
DeFi Projects Need to Implement Secure Key Generation and Multi-Signature Schemes
According to Hacken, the above-mentioned incidents emphasize the requirement for ensuring the protected generation of cryptographic keys. It also highlights the need for the implementation of encrypted storage along with restricted primary key access. Furthermore, the report also recommends multi-signature schemes in addition to distributed management of keys. With these controls, the DeFi entities can reportedly prevent or minimize the security concerns.
