CipherTrace Reports Major Cypto Hacks And Stolen Money

By Rishma Banerjee

New research suggests that nearly 1 billion USD has been incurred as losses due to crypto hacks, this year. CipherTrace, a blockchain security firm, reports that hackers have managed to steal 927 million USD, from cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms, in the first nine months of 2018, alone. The company, in the document “Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering 2018 Q3,”  analysed statistics to observe that losses were 3.5 times higher than what it was in 2017, and the general prediction is that the amount will cross 1 billion USD, by the end of 2018.

Quite a staggering number of hacks were reported this year, the most notable of which probably was the hack of Coincheck, a Japanese Exchange, where, 530 million USD worth cryptos were stolen. Some of the other major breaches to be reported were of crypto exchanges like  Italy’s BitGrail ($195 million), Japan’s Zaif (around $60 million) and South Korea’s Conrail (over $40 million) and Bithumb (over $30 million). Some  token creation platforms like Bancor ($23.5 million) and Geth, an Ethereum client (over $20 million) also fell victim to hacks. 

The report from CipherTrace also highlighted on a rapidly growing number of thefts of smaller magnitudes which totals a whopping 166 million USD since the second quarter report. The report states:

“This Data indicates a pattern of smaller robberies on a regular basis and sophisticated professional cyber thieves who carry pit hacks at both the exchange and platform levels by capitalizing on exposed vulnerabilities, as well as by socially engineering employees who work at these companies.”

CipherTrace adds to the report that there were more thefts reported but the amounts lost were in estimation and under investigation. The firm also said that they were aware of a 60 million USD hack, which however had not been reported to the public. They also revealed that almost 97% of the direct Bitcoin payments by the hackers went to exchanges in countries with less stringent Anti Money Laundering Laws. While many governments have enforced stricter measures to curb the theft, some others were expected to come up with tighter Cryptocurrency AML laws in the near future.