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Stolen Cryptocurrency Doubles to $1.38 Billion in First Half of 2024: TRM Labs
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Hackers more than doubled their cryptocurrency haul in the first half of 2024 compared to the previous year, Report from blockchain research firm TRM Labs showed.
The report says $1.38 billion in cryptocurrency was stolen between January 1 and June 24, more than double the $657 million stolen in the same period last year. As was the case last year, a handful of large attacks drove the surge in cryptocurrency looted, with the top five hacks accounting for 70% of the amount stolen in the first half of this year.
According to TRM Labs, the top attack vectors in 2024 include compromises of private keys and seed phrases, a sequence of random words that stores the information needed to access or recover a crypto wallet.
This year’s biggest heist steals more than $300 million in bitcoin from a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin.
Hackers used stolen private keys or address poisoning techniques, which involve sending a small amount of cryptocurrency from a wallet with a lookalike address, created to mimic yours or the recipient’s, with the intention of tricking the victim into sending funds to the wrong wallet.
Cryptographic addresses are long, complex strings of characters that are difficult to memorize or enter manually without making mistakes.
TRM Labs said there were no fundamental changes in the security of the crypto ecosystem that could have contributed to the increase in stolen amounts. It said the number of attacks and attack vectors were not significantly different year over year.
However, the firm noted that cryptocurrency prices were higher on average in the first half of this year, which may have contributed to the increase in the value of stolen cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrency companies have often been the target of cyber attacks and hacks.
Cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in 2014 after a series of cyber attacks that stole up to 950,000 bitcoins, worth over $54 billion at today’s prices.
In November, approximately $115 million was stolen from HTX Exchange and Heco Chain, two crypto platforms linked to famous entrepreneur Justin Sun.
Cryptocurrency firms can combat cyberattacks and exploits with a multi-layered defense strategy, including measures such as regular security audits and strong encryption, TRM Labs said.
Employee training and implementing a comprehensive incident response strategy can also help protect businesses, he said.