Lazarus Group continued to be the most prolific attacker in 2023, causing crypto users to lose $1.8 billion in a variety of hacks and scams.
According to a study released on Thursday by bug bounty platform Immunefi, crypto consumers lost $1.8 billion in 2023 due to a variety of hacks, flaws, scams, and rug pulls. Despite a 54 percent drop from $3.9 billion in 2022, the sector lost 319 occurrences in 2023, a 90 percent rise.
A third of the year’s total losses occurred in the third quarter, making it the worst quarter overall. November ($343 million), September ($340 million), and July ($320 million) had the most monthly losses.
The study found that 247 instances, largely involving decentralized financial platforms, resulted in the loss of $1.6 billion due to hacking, while 110 occurrences, amounting to $103 million, were lost due to fraud.
In 19 incidents, Immunefi was able to recover 13.5% of the stolen cash, which amounts to about $231.7 million.
Two of the most targeted blockchains, BNB Chain and Ethereum, suffer the lion’s share of attacks and subsequent losses. There were 131 instances involving projects based on the BNB Chain and 91 incidents using Ethereum, according to Immunefi. Then came Avalanche with six events, then Polygon with 10.
Lazarus Group, a North Korean organization, managed to escape punishment in 2023 after stealing $308.6 million from several projects—or 17.4 percent of the overall losses that year. This organization is believed to have planned the attacks on Atomic Wallet, CoinEx, Alphapo, Stake, and CoinsPaid.
Mixin Network ($200 million), Euler Finance ($197 million), Multichain ($126 million), Poloniex ($126 million), and BonqDAO ($120 million) were among the other noteworthy occurrences that occurred in 2023, according to Immunefi.
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