In September 2023, crypto-related exploits reached an unfortunate peak, making it the worst month of the year so far in terms of cryptocurrency theft, with a staggering $329.8 million in digital assets stolen.
Blockchain security firm CertiK reported on October 2 that the most significant contributor to this month’s total losses came from the Mixin Network attack on September 23. This attack affected the Hong Kong-based decentralized cross-chain transfer protocol, resulting in a substantial loss of $200 million due to a breach of its cloud service provider.
When we aggregate all the incidents that occurred in September, we can confirm that approximately $332 million was lost due to various exploits, hacks, and scams.
Other significant incidents during the month included attacks on the CoinEx exchange and Stake.com, leading to losses of $53 million and $41 million, respectively. Both of these attacks have been linked to the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking collective, as reported by Cointelegraph. According to the latest figures from Dune Analytics, the Lazarus Group currently holds approximately $45.6 million in cryptocurrency assets.
Crypto Thefts Soar in September 2023, Reaching Unprecedented Levels
These attacks in September have pushed the total amount of cryptocurrency lost to exploits for the year to $925.4 million. The second-highest month for exploit-related losses in 2023 was July, with approximately $285.8 million stolen.
Additionally, during September, there were other losses in the cryptocurrency space, including $1.9 million due to exit scams, $400,000 from flash loan attacks, and an additional $25 million from phishing attacks, all according to CertiK.
In total, the losses incurred in 2023 due to various exploits, scams, and hacks have now reached a staggering $1.34 billion.
Blockchain security firm Beosin reported that the third quarter of 2023 saw total losses of just under $890 million due to hacks, phishing scams, and exit scams. These losses in Q3 exceeded the combined total of the first two quarters, which amounted to $330 million in Q1 and $333 million in Q2, as reported late last week.