Centralized finance platforms have been the primary targets of breaches resulting in the loss of over $900 million to illicit activities year-to-date. This figure represents a 24% increase from the same period last year. A noticeable shift in targets has been highlighted by data from Immunefi, which indicates that in Q1, DeFi platforms were the sole targets of identified exploits.
The losses from hacks and scams totaled $572.7 million, making up 62.8% of the total losses. The month of May 2024 saw the highest monthly losses in the quarter, amounting to $358.5 million. Mitchell Amador, founder and CEO of Immunefi, emphasized the severity of infrastructure compromises, explaining that a single compromise can lead to millions in damages and underlining the need for robust security measures to protect the entire ecosystem.
Hacks were identified as the dominant form of loss, accounting for 98.5% ($564.2 million) of the total across 53 incidents. Meanwhile, fraud, scams, and rug pulls accounted for only 1.5% ($8.5 million) over 19 incidents. The increased regulatory scrutiny on DeFi platforms has prompted them to implement stricter security measures, potentially making them more challenging targets for exploits.