2021 noticed $3.2 billion value of cryptocurrency stolen by people and providers which was six occasions greater than the quantity stolen in 2020, as per a Chainalysis Crypto Crime Report 2022. The report highlighted that hacks on decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms accounted for $2.3 billion of the stolen funds.
Insights from the report said that 2021’s cryptocurrency based mostly thefts have been resulting from safety breaches the place hackers received cyber entry to the victims’ non-public info, which was carried out utilizing methods equivalent to phishing, keylogging, social engineering, amongst others. Moreover, round 30% of all cryptocurrency associated thefts occurred through this sort of hack between 2019 and 2021. In 2021, worth manipulative assaults equivalent to code exploits and flash mortgage assaults accounted for 49.8% of cryptocurrency stolen throughout completely different providers, which elevated to 69.3% when hacks on DeFi platforms have been taken under consideration. While DeFi protocols transfer funds with out human intervention, cyber criminals profit from the vulnerabilities and plan exploits within the platforms’ servers.
The report’s knowledge said that affect of worth oracles, which offer the knowledge required for good contract execution, on DeFi platforms contributed in the direction of cryptocurrency based mostly thefts. In 2021, worth oracles triggered flash mortgage assaults which led to thefts value $364 million from DeFi platforms.
Between 2020 and 2021, lending platforms equivalent to yield farming protocols accounted for $923 million in stolen funds from 64 theft incidents. 51% of stolen funds have been flown to DeFi platforms, whereas dangerous providers and centralised exchanges accounted for 25% and round 15% respectively. As per info from the report, 10 largest hacks of 2021 accounted for $1.81 billion of stolen funds, and 7 of those 10 assaults have been aimed in the direction of DeFi platforms.
(With insights from the Chainalysis Crypto Crime Report 2022)
Source: www.financialexpress.com”