FBI Warns of Increased Crypto Theft On DeFi Platforms

• Data from the US blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis show that 97% of  $1.3 billion stolen cryptocurrencies were swiped from Defi platforms.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation warned investors that cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting weaknesses in Defi platforms.

As crypto interest continues to escalate, cybercriminals are ruthlessly scrutinizing and bottling in millions of dollars from immature Defi platforms. Data from the US blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis show that cyber crooks bottled more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency assets from Decentralised finance platforms.

The #FBI warns that cyber criminals are increasingly exploiting vulnerabilities in decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms to steal investors cryptocurrency. If you think you are the victim of this, contact your local FBI field office or IC3. Learn more: https://t.co/fboL1N17JN pic.twitter.com/VKdbpbmEU1

— FBI (@FBI) August 29, 2022

Describing the threat, the FBI stated that cyber crooks are exploiting weeknesses in smart contracts which the FBIs described as a “self-executing contract with the terms of the agreement between the buyer and seller written directly into lines of code that exist across a distributed, decentralized blockchain network. to steal crypto from Defis.

Through a public announcement made by the US blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis showed that in a time span of just tree month, from January to March of 2022, Cyber crooks went away with a whooping $1.3 Billion of cryptocurrencies. This accounts to 97% stolen from Defi platforms. An increase from 72 percent in 2021 and 30 percent in 2020.

The FBI state the root source of the increased heist is the increased interest in cryptocurrency and what they termed as “complexity of cross-chain functionality and open source nature of DeFi platforms.”

Successful Heists in 2022 According To the FBI

The FBI stated some of the stunts perfomed by cybercriminals  to carry off Defi platforms.

Counted as one of the biggest heists that cost investors a fortune is when cybercroks exploited the signature verification vulnerability in the DeFi platform’s token bridge and withdrew all of the platform’s investments, resulting in approximately $320 million in losses.

The second was cybercriminals Manipulated cryptocurrency price pairs by exploiting a series of vulnerabilities, including the DeFi platform’s use of a single price oracle, and then conducted leveraged trades that bypassed slippage checks and benefited from price calculation errors to steal approximately $35 million in cryptocurrencies.

Thirdly the FBI issued a warning against Initiating of flash loans. An exploit in the DeFi platform’s smart contracts, caused investors and the project’s developers to lose approximately $3 million in cryptocurrency as a result of the theft.

As for the Defi platforms themselves, The FBI advised the platforms to;

• Research DeFi platforms, protocols, and smart contracts before investing.
• Ensure the DeFi investment platform has conducted one or more code audits
• Be alert to DeFi investment pools with extremely limited timeframes.
• Be aware of the potential risk posed by crowdsourced solutions to vulnerability identification and patching.