Tag Archive for: Fell

Amount in crypto stolen via hacking fell in 2023 but number of cases on the rise

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SINGAPORE – The amount of stolen cryptocurrency from hacking may have fallen globally in 2023, but the number of incidents has risen, a report by blockchain research firm Chainalysis said.

The firm on Jan 24 said global funds stolen via crypto hacking plunged by about 54.3 per cent to US$1.7 billion (S$2.3 billion) in 2023 compared with the year before.

However, the number of individual hacking incidents grew 5.5 per cent the same year to 231, from 219 in 2022.

Hacking refers to the unauthorised access, manipulation or exploitation of computer systems, networks or information.

The report said cryptocurrency hacking has become a pervasive and formidable threat that has led to billions of dollars stolen from crypto platforms and exposing vulnerabilities across the ecosystem.

The drop in the amount stolen via crypto hacking in 2023 is largely because of a fall in decentralised finance, or DeFi, hacking. DeFi refers to a new financial system where transactions are made peer to peer on public blockchains.

“Hacks of DeFi protocols largely drove the huge increase in stolen crypto that we saw in 2021 and 2022, with cyber criminals stealing US$3.1 billion in DeFi hacks in 2022. But in 2023, hackers stole just US$1.1 billion from DeFi protocols. This amounts to a 63.7 per cent drop in the total value stolen from DeFi platforms year over year,” said Chainalysis.

The fall in the value and number of DeFi hacks come as DeFi operators become better at smart contract security, the report said.

Smart contracts are self-executing contracts on the blockchain, with the terms of the agreement directly written into code.

Ms Mar Gimenez-Aguilar, lead security architect and researcher at Web3 and blockchain security firm Halborn, said in the report that the rise in security measures in DeFi protocols is a key factor in lowering the number of hacks linked to smart contract vulnerabilities.

“If we compare the top 50 hacks by value lost from 2023 with those from previous years, there is a reduction in losses from 47 per cent of the total to 18.2 per cent,” she said.

Ms Gimenez-Aguilar said price manipulation attacks remained almost constant, with around 20 per cent of the total value…

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2 Las Vegas casinos fell victim to cyberattacks, shattering the image of impenetrable casino security

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AS VEGAS — A persistent error message greeted Dulce Martinez on Monday as she tried to access her casino rewards account to book accommodations for an upcoming business trip.

That’s odd, she thought, then toggled over to Facebook to search for clues about the issue on a group for MGM Resorts International loyalty members. There, she learned that the largest casino owner in Las Vegas had fallen victim to a cybersecurity breach.

Martinez, 45, immediately checked her bank statements for the credit card linked to her loyalty account. Now she was being greeted by four new transactions she did not recognize — charges that she said increased with each transaction, from $9.99 to $46. She canceled the credit card.

Unsettled by the thought of what other information the hackers may have stolen, Martinez, a publicist from Los Angeles, said she signed up for a credit report monitoring program, which will cost her $20 monthly.

“It’s been kind of an issue for me,” she said, “but I’m now monitoring my credit, and now I’m taking these extra steps.”

MGM Resorts said the incident began Sunday, affecting reservations and casino floors in Las Vegas and other states. Videos on social media showed video slot machines that had gone dark. Some customers said their hotel room cards weren’t working. Others said they were canceling their trips this weekend.

The situation entered its sixth day on Friday, with booking capabilities still down and MGM Resorts offering penalty-free room cancelations through Sept. 17. Brian Ahern, a company spokesperson, declined Friday to answer questions from The Associated Press, including what information had been compromised in the breach.

By Thursday, Caesars Entertainment — the largest casino owner in the world — confirmed it, too, had been hit by a cybersecurity attack. The casino giant said its casino and hotel computer operations weren’t disrupted but couldn’t say with certainty that personal information about tens of millions of its customers was secure following the data breach.

The security attacks that triggered an FBI probe shatter a public perception that casino security requires an “Oceans 11”-level effort to defeat…

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Simon Fell column: GSK legacy next step for MP

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On Thursday the GSK Taskforce met to discuss where we have got to since the announcement in February that GSK would be pulling out of Ulverston and selling its business to Sandoz. At the outset, we had three main aims:

* Getting a good deal for current employees – ensuring transparency and protection in relation to training and retention.

* A public recommitment by GSK to its previous undertakings to the community – namely a donation of £2m to the Ulverston Leisure Centre, and the gifting of land to South Lakeland District Council to be used for economic development.

* Support from GSK to Lakes BioScience to provide the best possible opportunity to establish a viable business on the vacated site, and enabling them not just to retain the specialist skillsets developed locally over so many years but also to expand on them.

Securing those agreements involved a huge amount of effort. Among other things, my team and I lobbied the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Business, and the Health Secretary. It also involved a corresponding effort by GSK who have worked really constructively with Government and with me to get to this positive point.

The next step will be the trickiest, namely to define what a good legacy from GSK will look like. I’m grateful to everyone who has shared their thoughts with me on this (ranging from the very reasonable and achievable to those less so).

Our next Task Force meeting will involve examining those ideas and starting our negotiations towards achieving the best outcome for the community and the area.

On Tuesday I chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cyber Security where we discussed the Online Harms Bill and how to strengthen it. The Bill is designed to stop the internet and social media being used to share hate, abuse and other illegal and unacceptable behaviours, and to improve online safety.

We heard presentations by experts from academia and business, as well as from organisations directly affected. One was the End Violence Against Women Coalition who spoke movingly about how seriously online harm caused by stalking and harassment affects people and explained why the Bill as proposed needs to…

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Almost 60 percent of internet users in India fell prey to hacking in the last 1 year: Report

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More than 59 percent of internet users in India have been victims of cybercrime in the last 12 months as some of these individuals believe that remote working environments have made it easier for cybercriminals to take advantage of them, a new report by Norton Cyber Safety Insights has revealed.

The report also adds that more than 27 million Indian internet users have experienced identity theft in the last year and around 52 percent of Indian adults admitted that they do not have the knowledge or the resources to protect themselves against cybercrime.

“In a year of lockdowns and restrictions, cybercriminals have not been deterred. More Indian adults fell victim to identity theft in the past 12 months and most are concerned about data privacy,” said Ritesh Chopra, Director Sales and Field Marketing, India and SAARC Countries, NortonLifeLock, a consumer security company.

Many hackers have also attempted phishing attack by sending emails to people with information about COVID treatment and vaccine availability. Most of these emails have documents attached to them that contain malware.

While there is a considerable amount of the workforce (almost 90 percent) who take proactive measure to safeguard their data, almost 42 percent of users feel that it is impossible to protect their privacy.

The report adds that an online survey in partnership with The Harris Poll surveyed more than 10,000 adults in 10 countries including 1,000 adults in India. Almost half of the people in the survey said they turned to their friends for help while the other half said they contacted the company after they realised their account was hacked.

People today feel more vulnerable than before as now they are more online and consuming more content than ever before. The more they are browsing the internet and logging on to multiple social media accounts, the more it makes them vulnerable.

Most Indian adults are concerned about data privacy (75 percent) and want to do more to protect it (77 percent), the report added.

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