Highlights:
- September cyberattacks led to a cumulative loss of $120.23 million across over 20 incidents.
- BingX and Indodax contributed to over half of the total losses, with $44 million and $21 million, respectively.
- Q3 2024 saw over $400 million lost to hacks, with centralized finance as the main target.
The crypto industry faced a series of enormous cyberattacks during September 2024. In an X post on Oct. 1, Blockchain investigation firm Peckshield reported that more than twenty hacking events resulted in a cumulative loss of nearly $120.23 million throughout September. The security firm shared the details of the hacks on its official social media account.
PeckShieldAlert noted that these attacks highlight the security vulnerabilities facing the crypto community. Although the reported cumulative losses raise concerns, they do not account for the loss of spWETH. According to reports, the Ethereum-based wrapped coin spWETH fell victim to a phishing attack, where the hacker manipulated the Permit signature to drain up to $32.4 million.
Centralized Exchanges Face Significant Losses
Centralized exchanges remain frequent targets for crypto hackers, leading to substantial monthly losses. In September, the Singapore-based crypto exchange BingX and the Indonesian exchange Indodax together accounted for over half of the total losses. BingX recorded the highest loss at $44 million, while Indodax suffered a loss of $21 million.
Several decentralized entities were affected, including the DeFi protocol Penpie, which lost $27 million to an exploit. Other notable DeFi hacks involved Delta Prime ($6 million), Truflation ($5.6 million), and Bedrock ($2 million). Crypto lender Shezmu, originally hacked for $5 million, partially recovered the stolen funds through on-chain negotiations with the hacker. The Telegram bot Banana Gun also announced refunds for crypto traders affected by its $3 million hack.
#PeckShieldAlert September 2024 saw 20+ hacks in the crypto space, leading to ~$120.23 million in losses. (Note: The $32.4 million worth of $spWETH drained in a Permit signature #phishing is not included)#Top 10 Hacks in September 2024:#BingX: $44 million#Penpie: $27 million… pic.twitter.com/t2YuvIds6u
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) October 1, 2024
September saw a 61.7% drop in losses from hacks compared to August when the crypto industry lost nearly $314 million. In response to these events, experts emphasize the need for enhanced security measures, greater awareness, and thorough code audits.
Over $400 Million Lost to Crypto Hacks in Q3 2024: Immunefi Report
According to a report from web3 bug bounty platform Immunefi, the crypto space lost nearly $413 million in Q3. Data shows over $409.9 million was lost to hacks in 31 incidents, and $3.08 million was lost to fraud in three incidents. Most of these losses came from WazirX and BingX.
Immunefi analysts report that centralized finance was the primary target of successful exploits, accounting for nearly 75% of losses, while decentralized finance made up 25.2%. Ethereum faced the most attacks, with 15 incidents, followed by BNB Chain and Coinbase’s Base network.
As of October 1, WazirX remains the largest victim of a 2024 hack. On July 18, the Indian crypto exchange lost $235 million when one of its Safe Multisig wallets on Ethereum was compromised. In response, the company suspended all crypto and cash withdrawals to launch an internal investigation.
Three months later, WazirX has not announced plans to compensate affected users. In a recent move, rival crypto exchange CoinSwitch filed legal action against WazirX to recover 2% of its assets, worth around $6.2 million. Despite ongoing recovery efforts, WazirX recently disclosed that 43% of customer funds are permanently lost.