Last Updated on September 11, 2018

Hacks against individuals and organizations operating in the cryptocurrency space are undoubtedly becoming a big thing. A recent study from Kaspersky  revealed that only in the second quarter of 2018 (Apr-Jun), Cybercriminals have been able to make $2.3 million via crypto phishing during Initial Coin Offerings (the initial sale of crowdfunded cryptocurrency from startups), with Ethereum being the preferred targets for miscreants.


This does not sound surprising at all, if we consider that, so far, there have been 772 ICOs raising nearly $19 billion: a too tempting opportunity for cyber criminals constantly looking for new sources of revenues. And even worse, Initial Coin Offerings are not the only opportunity: Crypto Exhanges as well as wallets of single individuals are a coveted target.

As a consequence, during this 2018, I have collected 18 major hacks in the crypto space so far, for a staggering total of $854,182,000 worth in tokens flown away. Actually 524M were stolen during a single incident, the hack occurred to Coincheck, nonetheless, after 7 months, the total has already surpassed (and nearly doubled) the bounty stolen in the 11 major hacks of 2017 ($472,461,000).

So if you are cryptocurrency investor who needs to be aware of the risks, or simply curious to have the details of the incidents occurred so far, I have pulled together some interactive charts with the main incidents of 2017 and 2018 (so far). After the charts, there is also a table collecting the details of the single incidents extracted from my timelines.

The chart of the events as a function of time and value shows an increasing density of events in the second half of 2018.

Picture 1: Major Crypto Hacks

As mentioned Coincheck leads the chart of the top 10 hacks for 2018, ahead of Bitgrail and Coinrail.

Picture 1: Major Crypto Hacks (2018)

NiceHash leads the chart for 2017 ($68M stolen), followed by Bithumb, Parity, and Tether. As you may notice, some companies have been hacked twice, meaning that some lessons are hard to learn. This is the case of Bithumb and Bitcoin Gold.

Picture 1: Major Crypto Hacks (2017)

And below there is the detailed table for all the hacks shown in Picture 1.

wdt_ID ID Date Target Description Amount Stolen Technique Country Link
1 1 17/02/2017 Zcoin A simple one-digit typo within the source code of a cryptocurrency called Zcoin has allowed a hacker to make a profit of over $400,000 worth of cryptocurrency. 400.000 Coding Error N/A
2 2 22/04/2017 Yapizon Yapizon, a South Korean Bitcoin exchange suffers a massive data breach when hackers steal 3,800 Bitcoin (US$5 million) which is 37% of user funds. 5.000.000 Unknown KR
3 3 19/06/2017 Bithumb Bithumb announces that they temporarily suspend deposits due to a change in wallets with their exchange service. It ends up backfiring, resulting in an unexpected cryptocurrency hack. 30.000.000 Unknown KR
4 4 29/06/2017 ClassicEtherWallet.com An unknown attacker gains control over the web domain of Classic Ether Wallet, a client-side wallet system for the Ethereum Classic (ETC) cryptocurrency, being able to phish credentials and redirect transactions. Based on reported cases, the hacker might 300.000 DNS Hijacking N/A
5 5 17/07/2017 CoinDash An unknown hacker takes over the official website of the CoinDash platform and modifies an Ethereum wallet address during the company's ICO (Initial Coin Offering) being able to steal $7 million worth of Ethereum. 7.000.000 Unknown US
6 6 19/07/2017 Parity A vulnerability in Parity's Ethereum wallet software is exploited by thieves to rob victims on a massive scale. Targeted accounts are drained of 150,000 coins worth just over US$30 million at the current price. 30.000.000 Vulnerability US
7 7 24/07/2017 Veritaseum Another day another Ethereum related breach. This time the target is Veritaseum, whose Initial Coin Offering (ICO) suffers a data breach in which around US$8.4 million worth of Ethereum are stolen. 840.000 Unknown US
8 8 01/10/2017 OKEx After victims reported losing a collective of over 600 Bitcoin, worth around 20 million Chinese yuan, at the time of the thefts, or around 3 million USD, OKEx, a Bitcoin exchange based in China, issues a statement, denying it was hacked earlier in August, 3.000.000 Account Hijacking CN
9 9 19/11/2017 Tether Tether, a start-up known for offering dollar-backed cryptocurrency, announces that hackers have breached their security and stole a whopping $30 million worth of tokens. The breach took place on 19th November 2017. 31.000.000 Unknown HK
10 10 22/11/2017 Bitcoin Gold More than $3.3 million worth of Cryptocurrency is stolen as part of an elaborate scam that took advantage of bitcoin users seeking to claim their share of the newly created cryptocurrency Bitcoin Gold. 3.300.000 Account Hijacking PA

Interested in all the major hacks? Have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and now 2018 (regularly updated… Hopefully!). And do not forget the Cyber Attack Statistics that are regularly published, and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.

Last but not least, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts).

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