Among many illicit methods that thieves utilize to get their hands on others’ cryptocurrency, phishing was the most successful one by far in 2024.
2024 saw a loss of $2.36 billion in total across 760 on-chain security incidents. This is a 31.61% increase compared to 2023.
A whopping $1.05 billion was lost to phishing attacks alone over the past year – nearly half of the total amount, according to the latest report by blockchain security firm CertiK.
The attackers committed the thefts over 296 separate incidents, which is 39% of the total number of attacks.
Additionally, only three of the nearly 300 incidents resulted in a $100 million loss.
Source: CertiK
Per the report, the number suggest that phishing attacks, on average, “typically lead to larger amounts stolen per incident than other vulnerabilities.”
All four quarters of last year recorded high activity levels related to phishing attacks and private key theft. Still, Q2 saw the highest loss of $433.7 million in 67 phishing attacks.
Phishing is popular due to its simplicity and effectiveness, the report says. It is not so much about technological defenses as it is about human vulnerability.
Blockchain transactions make phishing “particularly devastating” as these are irreversible.
In 2024, hackers returned less than $213.33 million.
Private key theft also proved lucrative. These compromises took the second place on the most-costly attack vectors list.
In total, thieves stole $855,385,570 across 65 incidents of this sort.
Ethereum and BSC Were the Most ‘Phished’
Between 2022 and 2023, phishing losses jumped by 244.41%, the report found.
In 2024, Ethereum saw the most security incidents overall, with 403 of the total 760 hacks, scams, and exploits. The losses amounted to $748,688,677.
Therefore, Ethereum was also the most popular chain for phishing attacks. This type of attack led to more than $297.5 million loss on Ethereum across 248 incidents.
Binance Smart Chain (BSC) was the second-most targeted chain when it comes to phishing scams.
Source: CertiK
Overall, across all attack vectors, attackers also “heavily targeted” Bitcoin and Tron.
These two chains lost $542.7 million and $133 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, 39 security breaches that affected multiple chains led to $435 million in losses.
The third quarter of 2024 – similarly to the third quarter of 2023 – was hit the hardest. It recorded 157 incidents and lost $753.3 million.
However, observing the losses on the monthly basis, May was “the most costly month of the year.” It lost $444.4 million across 63 incidents.
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