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This Was the Worst Year for Crypto Hacks. Here’s How 2023 Can Be Better

Over the past 12 months, crypto has seen a troubling flood of attacks and exploits. There have been too many to track – this is an issue that desperately needs to be addressed. Fortunately, there’s hope. Protocols can up their game when it comes to auditing code, monitoring network activity and setting clear attack response plans when an exploit does occur. If the industry takes note and implements these protections, it’s very plausible years like this will remain in the rear view mirror. According to Chainalysis, 2022 is on track to be the worst year on record for funds stolen through hacks and exploits. Some $3 billion was stolen, at last count. The Ronin hack is particularly notable. In March, North Korean-linked Lazarus Group expropriated about $620 million worth of ETH and USDC from the Ronin Network, a sidechain built for the popular Web3 game Axie Infinity. What’s most surprising is it took over a week for this attack to be discovered. Law enforcement officials have been able to recover about $30 million of the stolen funds and Binance has been able to freeze an additional $5.8 million, but the majority of assets remain under the hackers’ control.

Full opinion : This Was the Worst Year for Crypto Hacks. Here’s How 2023 Can Be Better.