Crypto hackers are increasingly phishing for new bait on social media – TechCrunch

As more people enter the web3 ecosystem, there are increasing opportunities for hackers to attack. And during the second quarter, there was a significant rise in crypto-focused phishing attacks across social media sites, according to a new report.

There were 290 recorded attacks during the second quarter, up 170% from 106 in the first quarter, according to a Web3 Security Q2 2022 report by CertiK, a blockchain and DeFi security-focused platform backed by Goldman Sachs and others. While there are many day-to-day minor phishing attacks (or attempts) on individuals in the space, the major attacks are classified as events that resulted in crypto losses of $100,000 or more, the company told TechCrunch.

“Social media affects phishing attacks by providing a centralized, single point of failure via which hackers can dupe users into following malicious links,” Ronghui Gu, CEO and co-founder at CertiK, said to TechCrunch. “This in turn leads to users being robbed of their assets.”

The second quarter was filled with “losses” and hacks across the web3 ecosystem — and many aren’t expecting it to slow down. Since the beginning of the year, over $2 billion has been lost to hacks and exploits — racking up an amount larger than the entirety of 2021 in half the time, the report stated.