The post Peckshield reports Crypto Hacks Surge in May 2024; More than $574 Million Stolen appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
As reported by blockchain analytics firm Peckshield, in May 2024, there were almost 30 incidents of hacking into cryptocurrencies, with a total theft of approximately $574.6 million.
This represents a staggering 666 percent increase from the figure recorded in April 2024. Cybercriminals stole about $385 million, and most of the stolen amount was successfully funnelled through the Tornado Cash platform, which masks the sender’s information.
Tornado Cash: A Major Money-Laundering Instrument
A rather large sum of the money attained through these hacks was passed through Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer that increases transaction anonymity by disconnecting sender and recipient addresses.
Tornado Cash’s design entails creating deposits into the mixer and then mixing and further distributing the amounts to different addresses. Thus, the given process can be considered an efficient method of depersonalizing the transactions—it is rather difficult to trace the origins of such money. Therefore, Tornado Cash is well-loved by cybercriminals who must wash the money received from cyberattacks and turn it into real money.
The U.S. authorities sanctioned Tornado Cash, and recently, its founder, Roman, is facing a trial and has been sentenced to long-term prison for money laundering billions worth of crypto.
Cryptocurrencies: The 5 Main Hacks in May 2024
1. DMM Bitcoin: $305 Million
The biggest hack for the month occurred in the Japanese trader’s digital currency, DMM Bitcoin. The hackers identified the weak areas and conducted a successful cyber heist of 4,502 BTC, worth $305 million. It has been ranked as one of the biggest heists in the history of centralized exchanges.
2. Gala Games: $212 Million
Blockchain gaming firm Gala Games recently suffered a huge blow when it was subjected to exploitation that caused a $212 million loss. Cybercriminals successfully stole $22 million in profits before the thefts were mostly recovered.
3. Sonne Finance: $20 Million
Sonne Finance was hit by a complex flash loan attack and defrauded for $20 million. The platform is actively involved in issuing assets back and has already improved its security approach to prevent such attacks.
4. Coinbase Account Drainer: $18 Million.
A case of account break-ins on Coinbase saw the attackers get away with $18 million. The perpetrators employed intelligent methods of embezzling users’ funds by phishing their accounts.
5. A Whale: $8. 2 Million
A single whale with a significant amount of cryptocurrencies was frivolously attacked, and $8. 2 million was lost. The work being done to track down the stolen money has helped clarify further details about this particular attack.
For these threats to be dealt with, cybersecurity firms and cryptocurrency exchanges should start using more secure methods of protecting the data through encryption, using more than one kind of authentication and real-time monitoring to detect intrusion cases.
For users to enhance their safety, having hardware wallets for storing cryptocurrencies, carrying out a two-factor authentication process, and being on the lookout for phishing scams might help.
