Hacks Plummeting? Hope for Winter 2024

December 2024 has been a good month for the crypto space when it comes to hacking. Total losses were down over 70% compared to November, which bodes well for the industry’s security posture.

The Numbers

The month saw a total of 25 hacks resulting in losses of $24.69 million, a fraction of the $574.65 million lost in April, which was the peak month for hacks. The biggest one of the month was LastPass, which lost $12.38 million. Other notable hacks included Yeti Finance, GemPad, and FEG, which lost $2.2 million each.

In total, attacks targeting access control vulnerabilities accounted for 78% of all hacks in 2024.

The Improvements

This decline in losses can be attributed to strategic improvements and better tracking of stolen funds. Here are some of the measures that have been put in place:

• 2FA is increasingly common.
• The use of cold storage and multi-sig wallets is becoming the norm.
• Data encryption in transit and at rest is now standard.
• KYC and AML are required on many platforms.
• Multi-Party Computation wallets and custodial wallets are being used.
• Real-time monitoring is being implemented.
• AI and blockchain technology are enhancing fraud detection.
• Better user education is being provided.

The downward trend in losses is a welcome relief, but I’m still a little bit skeptical about whether it’s sustainable.