Even though there was a decline in the overall number of cryptocurrency security incidents, hackers stole a record $753 million in digital assets during the third quarter of 2024, up 9.5% quarter-on-quarter, according to the latest report by cybersecurity firm CertiK.

This translates to as many as 155 security incidents within the community of digital cryptocurrencies, most of which were directed at the Ethereum network. In all, the total number of hacks, scams, and exploits on Ethereum reached 86, with losses amounting to more than $387 million.

The most serious incident that occurred in the quarter saw a Bitcoin whale lose a whopping 4,064 BTC worth about $238 million on August 19 in what looks like a wallet compromise.

Adding to losses in the quarter, attackers pulled off a major security breach on India-based crypto exchange WazirX, making off with over $235 million.

These high-profile incidents have contributed to the nearly $2 billion stolen from crypto projects in 2024 so far—an upward trend from the first quarter's $505 million across 224 attacks to the second quarter's $687 million.

Diving into the very methodologies of the attacks, phishing turned out to be the most promising direction for cybercriminals, culminating in losses of more than $343 million across 65 cases. Usually, such types of attacks involve very sophisticated deception in the sense that bad actors pose as some sort of institution in order to trick users into leaking sensitive information like login credentials or private keys.

Private key compromises alone came in at lower numbers but really proved to be effective in making losses amount to $324 million, with just 10 incidents. Other attack vectors this quarter have included code vulnerabilities, reentrancy events, and price manipulation schemes.