Is Too Much Crypto Hacking Happening This October 2022?

Crypto hacking spikes up: Over US$718 million has been stolen from DeFi protocols

October has become the worst-ever month for crypto-related crimes with over $718 million in overall losses, and that's with two more weeks to go before the month ends. Data pointed out by Chainalysis on Thursday noted that the amount was stolen from several decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols across eleven different attacks. "2022 will likely surpass 2021 as the biggest year for crypto hacking on record," Chainalysis researchers wrote. "So far, hackers have grossed over $3 billion across 125 hacks."

Four crypto hacking incidents alone took place on Oct. 11 worth around $122 million. Hackers siphoned $200,000 in crypto using a smart contract from crypto wallet Rabby Wallet, $1.89 million from blockchain QANplatform's Ethereum bridge, $2 million from TempleDAO, and a $118 million exploit on the Solana-native Mango Markets.

Attack vectors in the crypto sector range from exploiting bridges, a blockchain-based tool that allows users to transact between different networks, to market manipulation, where rogue traders utilize millions of dollars to move thinly-traded markets in their favor to net several multiples of the initial capital deployed.

Over three bridges were breached this month alone, Chainalysis said, with an attack on a BNB Chain-based bridge over the weekend saw exploiters illicitly gaining over $100 million

after the bridge was exploited for $566 million. Then on Monday, the layer 1 blockchain QANplatform was the target of a bridge hack that resulted in the theft of nearly $1 million in QANX tokens.