November most ‘damaging’ month in 2023 as thieves pilfer $363M in crypto

The Poloniex, HTX/Heco Bridge exploits and the KyberSwap flash loan attack were the three largest incidents in November, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.

The cryptocurrency industry has now seen its most “damaging” month for crypto thievery, scams, and exploits, with crypto criminals walking away with $363 million in November, according to a blockchain security firm.

Around $316.4 million came from exploits alone, flash loans inflicted $45.5 million in damage, and $1.1 million was lost to various exit scams, CertiK stated in a Nov.

#CertiKStatsAlert

Combining all the incidents in November we’ve confirmed ~$363M lost to exploits, hacks and scams

This makes November the most damaging month this year

Exit scams were ~$1.1M

Flash loans were ~$45.5M

Exploits were ~$316.4M

See more details below pic.twitter.com/QoDy6d8IJH

— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) November 30, 2023

The largest exploits in November occurred on Poloniex and HTX/ Heco Bridge, with losses of $131.4 million and $113.3 million, respectively.

The third largest exploit was inflicted on a single victim who lost $27 million from a phishing attack.

Meanwhile, the $45 million KyberSwap attack accounted for nearly all damage done for flash loan attacks in the month.

The latest monthly figure has surpassed an earlier record of $329 million, set in September, caused mainly by the $200 million Mixin Network attack.

As of the end of November, about $1.7 billion has now been lost to exploits, exit scams, and flashloan attacks in 2023, making up only 54% of the crypto drained in the full year 2022, when $3.7 billion was drained to crypto incidents, while 2021 saw losses of $1.7 billion, according to Certik.

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