Access control exploits account for nearly 80% of all crypto hacks in 2024

According to data, crypto attacks in 2024 caused approximately $3 billion in damage, with 78% of losses due to access control flaws.

According to Hacken’s latest research report, 2024 has proven to be another challenging year for blockchain security, with approximately $3 billion lost in crypto attacks.

While the total financial impact was the same as in 2023, there was a sharp increase in attacks exploiting vulnerabilities in access control. Hacken’s data shows that these flaws are responsible for 78% of losses and impact a wide range of industries, including decentralized finance, centralized finance, and gaming/metadata platforms.

Crypto losses by category | Source: Hacken

According to the report, access control vulnerabilities emerged as the biggest threat, accounting for 75% of crypto hacking losses excluding phishing. Meanwhile, the report states that DeFi accounts for 20.4% of total hack losses and 30% of CeFi losses. The gaming and metadata industries also faced huge losses totaling $389 million; this accounts for approximately 20% of all crypto hack losses.

At the same time, losses related to cross-chain bridges saw a significant decline from $330 million in 2023 and $1.9 billion in 2022 to $117 million. Additionally, the blockchain security firm stated that crypto projects are facing increasing DNS hijacking incidents and said: Comprehensive security strategies are needed.

Hacken claims that the data is obtained from verified crypto project reports, including platforms like X, autopsies, and databases.