PeckShield: Hackers stole $35.5 million worth of cryptocurrency in a month

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According to a report from specialistscybersecurity from the company PeckShield, a total of $35.5 million in cryptocurrency was stolen in February. The largest number of hacks, 141, occurred on February 11.

Analysts found that the largest amountwhich hackers were able to steal when hacking one project amounted to $9.2 million. About 25 MyAlgo crypto wallets on the Algorand blockchain were affected. Then the hackers withdrew over 19.5 million ALGO coins and more than 3.5 million USDC tokens. The ChangeNOW cryptocurrency exchange managed to freeze assets worth $1.5 million.

The second most damaging hack behind the MyAlgo hack iscrypto protocol of the Platypus platform for $9 million. The platform then reported that the attacker took out an instant loan using a logical error in the solvency check mechanism in the collateral contract. An unknown person was able to withdraw assets from the main pool. As a result of the hacker’s actions, the Platypus USD stablecoin lost its peg to the US dollar, falling by 52.2% to $0.47. A few days later, French police
announced the arrest of two suspects in connection with the hacking of the Platypus protocol. Crypto assets worth 210,000 euros were confiscated from the detainees.

In February, hackers stole $5.1 million fromcryptocurrency investment project Shata Capital, $3.65 million from the DeFi protocol dForce, as well as $3 million from the liquidity aggregator for DeFi platforms and decentralized exchanges Orion Protocol. 

The total amount - $35.5 million - was almostten times less than was stolen in February a year earlier, analysts write ($349.9 million). However, compared to January 2023, the amount of stolen cryptocurrency has quadrupled. In January, hackers were able to steal $8.8 million worth of cryptocurrency.

In February the United Nationspresented a report to the North Korea Sanctions Committee showing that North Korean hackers stole more crypto assets in 2022 than in any other year. UN analysts have found that North Korean hackers were responsible for last year's theft of between $630 million and more than $1 billion in crypto assets after targeting the networks of foreign aerospace and defense companies.