According to a new report, last year was the biggest ever for cryptocurrency hacks.
Software company Chainalysis announced Wednesday that $3.8 billion has been stolen from its cryptocurrency business in 2022.
October was the biggest month for cryptocurrency hacks as 32 separate attacks stole $775.7 million. North Korea-linked hackers, including cybercrime syndicate Lazarus Group, spearheaded much of the effort, breaking their own annual record for stealing the most cryptocurrencies.
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In 2022, the group stole an estimated $1.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency in multiple hacks, according to Chainalysis. Of that total, $1.1 billion was stolen in a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol hack. According to The Defiant, a DeFi protocol is a set of codes that govern how digital assets are used in blockchain networks.
In 2021, DeFi will become a prime target for hackers, and in 2022 it will become even more intense.
DeFis protocols as victims accounted for 82.1% of all cryptocurrencies stolen by hackers, up 73.3% from the previous year.
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Of that, a total of $3.1 billion will come specifically from cross-chain bridge protocols. According to Chainalysis, cross-chain bridges often allow a user to transfer cryptocurrency to his one chain by locking the user’s assets into a smart contract on the original chain and creating an equivalent asset on the second chain. A protocol that allows migration from one blockchain to another.
But the report points to a growing ability of law enforcement and national security agencies to fight back.
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“Combined with the efforts of institutions like OFAC to separate money laundering services favored by hackers from the rest of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, their increased capabilities mean that these hacks will become more difficult and less common each year. I mean