Over $1,840,000,000 Lost in Hundreds of Crypto Security Incidents Last Year: Blockchain Security Firm

Blockchain security firm Certik says financial losses related to security incidents in the web3 industry topped over $1.84 billion in 2023.

In its annual web3 security report, Certik says there were 751 security incidents last year costing a total of $1,840,879,064, representing a decline of 51% from the $3.7 billion lost in 2022.

A larger percentage of the losses are attributed to just 10 incidents that accounted for $1.11 billion. 

November was the most costly month with $363.36 million lost in 45 incidents, while the third quarter saw the most losses with 183 hacks, scams, and exploits costing $686.558 million.

The report says compromised private keys account for only 6.3% of the security incidents but these caused the most costly losses to the tune of $880.89 million in just 47 incidents.

“Accounting for nearly 50% of total losses, and amounting to $880 million, these compromises were a painful reminder of the importance of secure private key management…

Notably, six of the 10 most costly security incidents over the course of 2023 were due to private key compromises.”

The BNB Chain (BNB) had the highest number of security incidents with 387 hacks, scams and exploits costing $134 million. Ethereum (ETH) followed with 224 incidents and $686 million in losses. 

The report also says there were 35 incidents affecting multiple chains costing $799 million in losses, highlighting the challenges of conducting cross-chain transactions.

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