September becomes the darkest month for crypto security in 2023.
According to blockchain security specialist CertiK, September has been identified as the most damaging month for cryptocurrency exploits in 2023, with an astonishing $329.8 million taken.
A report by CertiK unveiled that the lion's share of the losses came from the Mixin Network breach. On September 23rd, this Hong Kong-based DeFi cross-chain protocol fell victim to a $200 million hack due to compromised cloud services.
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The study also highlighted that the assaults on the CoinEx trading platform, which drained the firm of $53 million, and the $41 million Stake.com hack were other significant instances of large-scale crypto thefts.
According to recent data from Dune Analytics, North Korea's notorious Lazarus Group was involved in both the CoinEx and Stake.com attacks. The hacking group now holds $45.6 million in cryptocurrency assets.
CertiK's analysis revealed that the loss for 2023 from various cryptocurrency exploits has risen to $925.4 million, making September's numbers particularly troubling.
In addition to major hacks, CertiK's study drew attention to smaller yet substantial categories of loss. Exit scams contributed to a loss of $1.9 million, flash loan attacks resulted in $400,000 in losses and phishing attacks amounted to $25 million.
Moreover, the firm Beosin disclosed that the total losses from the third quarter of 2023 alone, due to crypto hacks, phishing scams, and exit scams, were nearly $890 million.
CertiK's report serves as a cautionary tale, underlining that 2023 has been an exceptionally vulnerable year for the crypto industry, with a total loss of $1.34 billion so far. With September setting a grim milestone, the need for advanced security measures in the crypto space has never been more pressing.
