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While April 2024 saw a total of 37 security breaches in the crypto industry, a whopping dollar value loss of $90.81 million was recorded. These events encompassed different exploits ranging from hacks in smart contracts and third parties to exit scams and hacker account intrusions, demonstrating the current unsafe environment in the crypto world.
A web3 security firm, Certik Alerts released their comprehensive report of April and revealed that the sum lost was The lowest figure they have ever recorded dating back to 2021. Additionally, the month saw a 141%decrease in hacks and scams compared to the previous month of March.
Overall Losses
The group losses due to uncovered vulnerabilities, exploitations, hacks, and scams in total made up $25.7 million which is the lowest figure since the start of 2021.
Exit Scams
The total value of stolen funds resulting from exit scams witnessed a decline in April month, having amounted to roughly $4.3 million.
Exploits and Flash Loans
Exposure took part in the major part of the losses to the tune of about $21 million showing the vulnerability of smart contracts and the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. Lending losses through flash loans were modest totalling around $129,000.
Key incidents highlighting breaches and losses
Slowmist in its security report of April mentioned the significant security and hacks incidents. Below is the brief details of the hacks and breaches.
- OpenLeverage Attack
On April 1, 2024, OpenLeverage was attacked resulting in losses of $260,000. The protocol guaranteed the users that payment would be done using insurance pools and reserve funds.
- FixedFloat Exploitation
The FixedFloat exchange discovered a hacker incident on April 2nd 2024, with a total loss of $3 million. This event called attention to the hazards relating to the use of third-party dependencies in decentralized exchanges.
- CondomSOL Exit Scam
CondomSOL executed a flash crash on April 4, 2024, gathering $920,000 through a selling frenzy before removing the official Twitter account, leaving the investors in disarray.
- Zest Protocol Breach
On April 12, 2024, Zest Protocol experienced an attack. As a result, 324,000 STXs ($1 million) were removed from the protocol. The protocol assured the treasury would reserve funds for reimbursement to affected users.
- Hedgey Finance Hack
Hedgey Finance incurred major losses amounting to $47.7 million because of contract weaknesses on April 19, 2024. Sadly the users on Arbitrum were most affected.
- ZKasino Suspicion
Reports found on Twitter showed that some transactions on ZKasino, the DApp betting platform, seemed rather suspicious. There were strong indications of a possible exit scam with $33 million in losses.
- Pike Finance Incident
Pike Finance’s USDC pool of Pike Beta was hacked on April 26, 2024, which resulted in the transfer of $300,000 due to the modification of the CCTP messages.
More into the Loss Patterns
Delving more deeply into the type of losses and their respective amount of loss, vulnerabilities in smart contracts amounted to the majority of the lost funds nearly 51%.
Exit Scams
They made up 40.54% of the cases, altogether amounting to $37.57 million in losses. This trend showed that there were many scam ICOs during this period like the Solana meme coin frenzy.
Contract Vulnerabilities:
10 events which were traced back to contract errors cost $46.93 million, highlighting that smart contract development is risky if not done properly and comprehensive auditing practice is absolutely necessary.
Investors and users should conduct sufficient research, deploy strong security measures and be vigilant to protect themselves against the risks available in the crypto market. Though it was a good end for April, many crypto investors wonder if the same trend will continue.
Also Check Out : Crypto Hack Report Q1 2024: Trends, Losses, and Recovery Efforts