From March 12 to March 16 alone, user losses due to compromise of private keys amounted to about $22.96 million. Certik notes: one-time losses of digital asset holders exceeded $1 million.
For example, January 31, 2024 Chris Larsen, co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple, lost approximately $112 million in assets after his private keys were compromised. Around the same time and for a similar reason, PlayDapp lost about $32.3 million, and FixFloat lost about $26 million.
Certik experts say that in the first quarter of 2024, 24 attacks were carried out, and losses due to the compromise of private keys reached $237 million. For comparison: in the first quarter In 2023, 11 attacks were carried out, and Certik experts estimated the losses of crypto users from the compromise of private keys at $18.8 million. In total, in 2024, losses in dollar terms increased by approximately 1160%.
Certik analysts have come to the disappointing conclusion that private key compromise will likely continue to be the leading cause of asset loss in the Web3 ecosystem. And as the market value of digital assets increases, centralized organizations will become an increasingly attractive and profitable target for attackers.
Earlier, users of the social network X were subjected to a new phishing attack - an attacker posing as a popular trader Ansem was able to steal $2.6 million in SOL coins.