In 2022, encryption hackers were rampant, with losses exceeding $3 billion, setting a new historical high.

Although the cryptocurrency market was generally sluggish in 2022, it was a bumper year for hackers. According to data platforms, at least $718 million has been stolen since October alone. Even more concerning is that, so far this year, the total amount lost by the encryption industry due to 125 hacker attacks has exceeded $3 billion, a figure that is likely to set a historical high record.

Analysis shows that in 2022, hackers' main attack targets have shifted from exchanges to DeFi protocols. These protocols are typically deployed on public chains and utilize smart contracts, allowing investors to trade, lend, and borrow directly on the digital ledger without the involvement of centralized intermediaries. Hackers exploit security vulnerabilities in the coding and structure of the DeFi market to carry out their attacks. As an important ecosystem in the cryptocurrency industry, participants in the DeFi market have a responsibility to seek better security solutions.

October has become the most active month for hackers in 2022. Among them, vulnerabilities in cross-chain bridges triggered a huge crisis, with 3 cross-chain bridges being attacked and nearly $600 million stolen, accounting for 82% of the cryptocurrency losses for the month and 64% for the year. On October 12, a decentralized exchange suffered a hacker attack with losses as high as $115 million, further disrupting the cryptocurrency industry.

In the top ten cryptocurrency attacks before 2022, hackers stole a total of over $1.7 billion in funds. Cross-chain bridges became the highest target for stolen funds, with multiple well-known projects suffering significant damage. For example, one network was hacked for $540 million, another project was hacked for $325 million, and other projects lost $190 million and $100 million respectively. The most recent cross-chain bridge attack occurred on October 7, when the official bridge of a well-known public chain was hacked, resulting in an unrecoverable loss of about $100 million.

It is worth noting that some hacker groups supported by certain countries have also begun to turn their attention to DeFi platforms. Earlier this year, research found that hacker groups linked to North Korea stole approximately $1 billion in cryptocurrency from DeFi protocols.

These data highlight the severe security challenges faced by the cryptocurrency industry, especially in the DeFi sector. With the continuous escalation of hacker attack methods, the entire industry urgently needs to strengthen security measures, improve code auditing standards, and develop more advanced defense mechanisms to protect user assets and maintain market order.