Key takeaways
- Phishing scams have become the most significant security threat in 2024, with almost half of all stolen funds linked to these attacks.
- More than $2.36 billion was lost in 760 security incidents in 2024, an increase of 31.61% from the previous year.
- Ethereum, Bitcoin and Tron were among the most targeted blockchains, with Ethereum experiencing the highest number of incidents.
Blockchain security firm CertiK has issued an urgent warning to crypto investors over the growing prevalence of phishing attacks, which have become the biggest security risk of 2024. According to CertiK Hack3d: According to the Web3 Security Report for 2024, phishing accounted for almost half of all stolen funds, amounting to $1.05 billion across 296 incidents.
This has resulted in an average loss of approximately tens of millions of dollars for each phishing incident, with most attacks exceeding the value of $100 million. In this sense, such an increase in phishing incidents may indicate that more sophisticated cybercriminals are targeting crypto users, thus requiring stricter security practices in the crypto space.
Third Quarter 2024: Worst Quarter for Crypto Losses
The year 2024 saw a wave of mass adoption, particularly in traditional finance, after several Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs were approved by the US SEC to further open the doors for more institutional involvement in the space crypto.
On the other hand, however, such a large and increased attraction of capital has also attracted unwarranted attention from cybercrime. According to a CertiK report, the amounts stolen increased in 2024 to reach more than $2.36 billion, an increase of 31.61% over the year.
The third quarter of 2020 was by far the most devastating quarter in terms of total amount lost, accounting for nearly $753 million in losses. These numbers speak to an unhealthy emerging trend of increasing cybersecurity breaches as institutional interest increases accordingly.
Ethereum most affected by security incidents
Ethereum, the second most valuable blockchain by market capitalization, was hit the hardest in 2024 as it suffered from the highest number of hacks, scams, and exploits. With 403 incidents causing losses of over $748 million, Ethereum contributed a large portion of the total annual value stolen.
This contrasts with the largest source of losses, which was due to phishing attacks, accounting for $2.3 billion across 54 attacks. Another major source of losses was the compromise of private keys which, across their 65 incidents, caused losses worth $855 million. Bitcoin and Tron have also been targeted, with significant sums stolen from both networks, further indicating the scale of these vulnerabilities.
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