2022 biggest year for hackers with $3 billion in crypto already stolen

Hackers have so far stolen $718 million from DeFi protocols in October, which could yet be the biggest month for hackers, Chainalysis said in a report.

Total value hacked and the number of hackings across the decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystem has shot up over 2022, with billions stolen in what is turning out to be the biggest year for hackers in cryptocurrency.

According to blockchain security and analytics firm Chainalysis, October has seen 11 different hacks targeting DeFi protocols. As the month reaches halfway, hackers have syphoned more than $718 million through security exploits.

“After four hacks yesterday, October is now the biggest month in the biggest year ever for hacking activity, with more than half the month still to go. So far this month, $718 million has been stolen from DeFi protocols across 11 different hacks,” Chainalysis said in a report on Thursday.

Hackers now targeting DeFi protocols

The attacks have thinned across centralised exchanges, which bore the brunt of attacks in 2019. In the past two years, the attackers have shifted attention to DeFi platforms – with cross-chain bridges currently the most targeted.

Per Chainalysis, October has seen exploits at three bridges and with close to $600 million stolen from these platforms alone. The attacks account for 82% of stolen funds in the past two weeks and 64% of heist suffered in 2022.

4/ Cross-chain bridges remain a major target for hackers, with 3 bridges breached this month and nearly $600 million stolen, accounting for 82% of losses this month and 64% of losses all year. pic.twitter.com/lQySX2ljKt

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) October 12, 2022

In terms of total value hacked in 2022, October is on track to surpass March. The number of hacks has also ticked up during the month, after declining since the March 2022 explosion.

The thefts recorded in October have helped push the amounts of crypto assets towards 2021 levels, and with more than two months to go, hackers could yet hit record levels.

“At this rate, 2022 will likely surpass 2021 as the biggest year for hacking on record. So far, hackers have grossed over $3 billion dollars across 125 hacks,” the analytics firm tweeted.

The latest attacks on Temple DAO for over $2.3 million in crypto tokens and another $100 million hack on Solana-based platform Mango, add to some of the biggest losses seen this year. These include the Wormhole and Ronin bridge exploits that resulted in $325 million and $625 million losses respectively.

As CoinJournal also recently highlighted, major crypto exchange Binance also recorded a cross-chain hack incident, pointing to the increased risk malicious actors pose to crypto and DeFi.