The Web3 realm witnessed a rise in phishing attacks in 2024. According to a report by Scam Sniffer, the Web3 ecosystem saw multiple phishing attempts in 2024, which cost it over $494 million.
The number has increased by 67% from the year before, and wallet drainer malware and the vulnerabilities it exposes victims to are getting increasingly complicated.
Phishing attacks are a kind of cyberattack in which a malevolent actor poses as a genuine source and sends phony messages. The intention is to fool users into installing malware on their device or disclosing private information.
Ethereum Worst Hit With Phishing Attacks
With 25 noteworthy cases involving losses of $152 million, Ethereum was the target of the most attacks. Although they weren’t as heavily exploited as Ethereum, other blockchains that were targeted included Arbitrum, Blast, Base, and BNB Chain.
According to the report, the cost per attack has increased significantly, but the victim rate has only increased by 3.7%. The year’s biggest single loss, a record of $55.48, made it abundantly evident that this was no joke but rather a serious threat with significant potential consequences.
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Why Are Phishing Attacks Rising?
Phishing attacks are effective because they take advantage of human weaknesses and pose little threat to the attacker. This makes the incentive more attractive for scammers.
Phishing attacks take use of people’s propensity to act curiously, trust others, or react emotionally to messages that seem important. Therfore people usually keep a blind trust in emails, messages and other anchors.
Additionally, phishing attacks collect personal information and create convincing messages by using social engineering tactics. Due to a lack of security awareness training, many users may find it challenging to identify phishing attempts.
Attackers also employ a number of strategies to boost their success rates, such as creating a sense of urgency, mimicking real emails from a spoof company, making links within messages look like their real equivalents, and crafting highly customized communications.
2024 Quarter Wise Hack Number
The offensive operations throughout the year can be separated into three stages:
The largest losses, totaling $187.2 million and 175,000 victims, occurred in the first quarter. The largest losses, $75.2 million, occurred in March.
The aggregate losses for the second and third quarters came to $257 million, but the number of victims dropped to 90,000.
As a result of better protection, fourth-quarter losses decreased to $51 million and the number of victims decreased to 30,000.
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