November witnessed an upsurge in Web3 hacks and exploits as crypto hackers stole nearly $350 million across 28 incidences, according to blockchain security firm Peckshield.
This marked the second-largest month for such occurrences this year, behind the $356 million stolen in September but nearly tenfold from October’s $32.47 million.
The cumulative losses from crypto exploits this year have reached approximately $1.37 billion as of the end of November.
Justin Sun projects dominate
In November, approximately $236 million was illicitly transferred from projects associated with Justin Sun, namely Poloniex, HTX, and Heco Bridge. These Sun-linked ventures collectively make up nearly 70% of the total funds stolen in terms of monetary value during that period.
Top 10 Crypto Projects Losses in November (Source: Peckshield)
For context, CryptoSlate reported two major compromises of a Sun-linked platform during the month. On Nov. 10, Poloniex, a crypto exchange purchased by the crypto entrepreneur in 2019, suffered a $100 million hack, with the attacker using the stolen funds to pump Tron blockchain’s native TRX token.
Less than two weeks after the Poloniex hack, Sun confirmed that HTX and Heco Bridge suffered an attack that lost users’ funds. At the time, CryptoSlate reported that the projects lost more than $100 million.
However, Sun has announced plans to reward users and cover the losses they suffered from the exploits of his platforms.
Other hacks
Aside from Sun’s project losses, other crypto projects that suffered major exploits during the month include KyberSwap, which was drained of around $55 million, and Taipei-based crypto trading firm Kronos Research, which lost $26 million to unauthorized access of its API keys.
Other projects like the decentralized exchange dYdX, Raft Protocol, Onyx Protocol, and others cumulatively lost around $25 million combined.
Meanwhile, a single victim also lost $27 million worth of Tether’s USDT to a phishing attack.
