Why DeFi Expects More Hacks This Year: Blockchain Security Executive

Investors in decentralized finance (DeFi) should prepare for a big year of exploits and attacks as new projects enter the market and hackers become more sophisticated.

Executives from blockchain security and audit firms HashEx, Beosin, and Apostro were interviewed by Drofa’s. DeFi Security Overview in 2022 Report shared exclusively with Cointelegraph.

Executives were asked about the reasons behind last year’s massive increase in DeFi hacking and whether this will continue into 2023.

Tommy Deng, managing director of blockchain security company Beosin, acknowledged that while DeFi protocols continue to strengthen and improve security, there is “no absolute security.”

“As long as there is interest in the crypto market, the number of hackers will not decrease.”

Deng added that many new DeFi projects “do not undergo full security testing before going live.”

Additionally, quite a few projects are currently investigating the use of cross-chain bridges. It was the main target of exploits last year, and in 2022, six exploits stole $1.4 billion from him.

This comment echoes comments from blockchain security firm CertiK, who told Cointelegraph on Jan. 3 that it “expects no pause in exploits, flash loans, or exit fraud” in the next year. It reflects.

In particular, CertiK pointed to the possibility of “further attempts by hackers to target the bridge in 2023,” citing historically high returns from attacks in 2022.

“Hackers have become smarter, more experienced and learned how to look for bugs,” said Dmitry Mishunin, founder and CEO of crypto audit firm HashEx.

“The crypto industry is still relatively new and everyone is growing with each other, so it’s hard to stay ahead of the bad guys.”

He added that the sheer value of some DeFi projects has made the industry “very attractive” for malicious actors, and that the number of hacks “will only continue to grow.”

Mishuin said these attacks could extend beyond DeFi, with attackers targeting “cryptocurrency exchanges and banks” entering the market to offer “more secure solutions for storing digital assets.” He said he was aiming.

Related: Crypto Recovery Needs A More Aggressive Solution To Fraud

But Tim Ismiliaev, co-founder of Apostro, a smart contract security and audit firm, said, “Over the next five years, the field will mature and new best practices will emerge for securing decentralized financial protocols.” I have a more hopeful view because I expect.

too long; didn’t read

Interestingly, both Mishunin and Deng noted that many of the post-incident reports provided by blockchain security companies often do not reach their target audience, blockchain developers.

“People reading such analysis are average investors worried about their money. Real blockchain developers are too busy coding. No,” said Myshnin.

On the other hand, according to Deng, the reports are usually about “event-based vulnerabilities and associated recommendations,” and because other developers may be vulnerable to other exploits, they are often It doesn’t help.

However, he acknowledged that reports on DeFi’s “general vulnerabilities” “tend to do a good job of increasing protection.”

“Reentrant vulnerabilities are no longer as common as they used to be.”