In 2022, cryptocurrency hacker attacks were frequent, resulting in losses exceeding $3 billion.

The year 2022 was a challenging year for the Crypto Assets market, but it was a fruitful year for Hackers. Despite the overall poor performance of the market, Hackers still regarded the encryption field as a "digital ATM."

Data from a blockchain analysis company shows that since October alone, the amount of Crypto Assets stolen has reached as high as $718 million. Even more shocking, the total losses in the crypto industry due to 125 Hacker attacks have exceeded $3 billion in 2022 to date. If this trend continues, 2022 is likely to become a record year for the value of stolen Crypto Assets.

Unlike in the past, in 2022 the main targets of hackers have shifted from exchanges to DeFi protocols. These protocols are usually deployed on public chains and allow investors to trade, lend, and borrow without the need for centralized intermediaries. Hackers exploit security vulnerabilities in the coding and structure of the DeFi market to carry out attacks, highlighting the urgent need for stronger security solutions in the DeFi ecosystem.

October became the most active month for hackers in 2022, with cross-chain bridge vulnerabilities causing a huge crisis. Three cross-chain bridges alone suffered nearly $600 million in losses, accounting for 82% of the crypto losses for that month and 64% of the annual losses. On October 12, a decentralized trading platform in the Solana ecosystem was attacked by hackers, resulting in losses of up to $115 million, drawing widespread attention in the industry.

In the top ten Crypto Assets attacks before 2022, hackers stole a total of over $1.7 billion in funds. Cross-chain bridges became the preferred target for hackers, with several well-known projects suffering heavy losses ranging from $100 million to $540 million. The most recent major attack occurred on October 7, when the official bridge of a well-known trading platform was hacked, resulting in an unrecoverable loss of about $100 million.

It is worth noting that some hacker organizations supported by certain countries have also begun to target DeFi platforms. Reports indicate that earlier this year, a hacker group associated with North Korea stole approximately $1 billion in Crypto Assets from DeFi protocols.

This series of events highlights the severe security challenges faced by the Crypto Assets industry, especially in the DeFi sector. As Hacker attack methods continue to evolve, industry participants need to increase security investments and develop more advanced defense mechanisms to protect user assets and maintain the healthy development of the industry.