Crypto and Web3 projects see 153% increase in attack incidents in Q3 2023

Huge surge in attacks

Crypto and Web3 projects experienced a significant surge in attack incidents from July to September 2023, with a 153% increase compared to the same period in 2022, according to a report from blockchain security platform Immunefi. In Q3 2022, there were a total of 30 attack incidents. However, this number skyrocketed to 76 in Q3 2023, resulting in losses of nearly $686 million.

Major losses and culprits

The biggest loss of the quarter came from the Mixin hack on September 25, which drained approximately $200 million. The Multichain hack was the second-worst attack, leading to over $126 million in losses that have not been recovered yet. Additionally, the Lazarus Group was responsible for draining over $208 million worth of crypto through multiple attacks on centralized services such as CoinEx, Alphapo, Stake, and Coinspaid, making it responsible for 30% of all stolen crypto in Q3.

Scams and rug pulls

While a small portion of attacks consisted of scams and rug pulls, only amounting to $23 million or 3.3% of total losses, the majority of losses, 96.7%, came from hacks or exploits. Interestingly, monetary losses from scams in Q3 decreased by 23.9% compared to Q3 2022.

DeFi vs Centralized services

The report highlights that decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks accounted for 72.9% of total losses, while centralized services only accounted for 27.1% of exploit losses. However, Immunefi did not elaborate on their criteria for defining "decentralized" versus "centralized" services.

Ethereum and BNB Chain under attack

Hackers and scammers predominantly targeted two networks: Ethereum and BNB Chain. Ethereum saw losses amounting to 42.7% of the total, while BNB Chain accounted for 30.5% of the losses. Base and Optimism were the third and fourth most popular networks for attackers to exploit.

Worst quarter for crypto-related attacks

The report's findings align with a similar conclusion made by Certik in their report on October 2. Both reports indicate that Q3 2023 has been the worst quarter of the year for crypto-related hacks and scams.