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Imagine this: you wake up one morning, check your crypto wallet, and… everything is gone. Millions of dollars vanished into the digital abyss, stolen by unseen hackers. Sound like a nightmare? Welcome to the harsh reality of the crypto world in Q1 2024. Security breaches are on the rise, with losses skyrocketing by 54% compared to the same period last year.
In this article, we’ll crack open the latest security report, revealing the most common attack methods, the networks under siege, and even some success stories in recovering stolen funds.
Learn how to protect your digital assets and become an informed crypto citizen. Read on!
Comparative overview
Comparing the figures to the same period in 2023 reveals a stark reality: the total financial losses of $502,522,934 in Q1 2024 represented an alarming increase of 54% compared to the money lost in the same quarter of the previous year. While the percentage of losses went down by 3.8% relative to Q4 2023, the trend is still upward. This makes the crypto community worried – after all it is a troubling situation.
Month-wise breakdown
January was the worst month in terms of the quarter’s finances, carrying all the expenses for on-chain security incidents. A total of 193,132,537 was stolen through 78 cases during that quarter, which is tantamount to a negative outlook for the rest of the quarter.
| Month | Amount lost in $ | Incidents |
| January | 193,132,537 | 78 |
| February | 160,385,286 | 59 |
| March | 149,005,111 | 86 |
The next months witnessed ups and downs, but the common denominator in these incidents was substantial during the quarter.
Primary attack vector
Private key compromises were the most common attack vector during Q1 2024. Although they constituted only 11.7% of all security incidents, they contributed to almost half the financial losses totalling $239,037,879.
| Type of attacks | Amount lost in $ | No. of incidents |
| Access control | 78,684,261 | 15 |
| Code vulnerability | 42,572,893 | 47 |
| Exit scams | 68,314,135 | 34 |
| Flash loan attack | 37,703,331 | 30 |
| Phishing attacks | 64,019,052 | 83 |
| Private key compromise | 239,037,879 | 26 |
| Others | 229,461 | 2 |
This shows that a strong defense system is needed to protect the master keys used as the gates of the users’ digital assets.
Analysis by blockchain networks
Ethereum, a well-known blockchain platform, was the victim of the most security attacks during the quarter. There were 131 hacks, frauds, and exploits on the Ethereum network, leading to a cumulative loss of $139 million.
| Chain | Amount lost in $ | Incidents |
| Arbitrum | 24,857,993 | 13 |
| Avalanche | 443,700 | 2 |
| Base | 1,176,995 | 3 |
| Blast | 68,080,000 | 3 |
| BNB chain | 26,351,558 | 36 |
| Ethereum | 139,837,142 | 131 |
| Multiple chains | 97,319,983 | 15 |
| Optimism | 927,190 | 2 |
| Other | 25,441,494 | 7 |
| Polygon | 730,948 | 3 |
| Ripple | 112,500,000 | 1 |
| Solana | 4,855,931 | 7 |
The very broadly spread and multi-purpose Ethereum platform makes it a promising target for malicious actors seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in the ecosystem. Arbitrum and multiple chain networks followed it.
Recovery efforts
Although the data of stolen crypto was horrifying, efforts were made to recover the lost funds. In the end, over $77,970,073 was successfully recovered and returned to those who had been defrauded by the crooks, which offered the same people a necessary glint of hope.
However, most of the recovered funds came from the Munchables hack, where the hacker returned all the stolen crypto through successful negotiation, which was possible through everybody’s team effort in the ecosystem at the very end.
Major exploits and losses
One of the most eminent losses was those from two particular hacks, OrbitBridge and Munchables, which together accounted for $144,480,000, taking up large portions of the total losses in Q1 2024.
Orbit Bridge, the bridging protocol of the Orbit Chain cross-chain project, was exploited on January 1, 2024, in an $81 million attack.
On the other hand, Munchables, an NFT game on the Ethereum layer 2 system called Blast was exploited on the 26th of March losing full access to its contract that enabled the withdrawal of the game’s assets worth a staggering $62M.
Conclusion:
The report on the on-chain security incident outcomes for Q1 2024 has shown that cryptocurrency security is still weak regarding stability and security. Meanwhile, the number of financial losses is a thriller, but this is also evidence of the necessity for strong security measures and strategies to defend digital properties.
With the crypto market ecosystem advancing daily, stakeholders must remain vigilant and commit to collaboration whenever threats and vulnerabilities appear.
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