Ethereum

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Polychain Capital, a firm concentrating on cryptocurrency investments, has confirmed that the X account of its founder and CEO, Olaf Carlson-Wee, has been hacked. 
The breach was uncovered on Jan. 4 when Carlson-Wee’s account started promoting a fake airdrop for Polychain’s native token, PCHAIN. The hacker claimed the airdrop was part of Polychain’s New Year celebration, with the post including links that led to a phishing website. 
However, soon after Polychain discovered the breach, it put out a statement acknowledging the hack and warning users against interacting with Carlson-Wee’s X account until further notice.&nbsp; 
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 Important Notice: Olaf’s personal twitter (<a href="https://twitter.com/zxocw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@zxocw</a>) has been compromised. Please do not engage with this handle until further notice.— Polychain (@polychain) <a href="https://twitter.com/polychain/status/1743019573295894937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">January 4, 2024</a>
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The account, with more than 19,000 followers, has reportedly been retrieved, and the offending post deleted — but not without more than 40,000 X users viewing it. It is yet to be discovered how many people may have interacted with the post or lost their assets as a result. 
The Carlson-Wee incident is the latest in a long line of hacks and scams perpetrated against the crypto community. In December, users of the Orbit Chain’s cross-chain bridge endured significant <a href="https://crypto.news/cross-chain-protocol-orbit-bridge-suffers-exploit-losses-surpass-80m/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">losses</a> due to a hack that escalated the month’s <a href="https://crypto.news/crypto-hacks-in-december-push-total-losses-close-to-100m/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">total</a> losses from such incidents to nearly $100 million. 
The Orbit Bridge attacker, who struck at 8:52 pm UTC on Dec. 31, stole various cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/ethereum/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH</a>), USD Coin (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/usd-coin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">USDC</a>), Tether (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/tether/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">USDT</a>), and Wrapped Bitcoin (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/wrapped-bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WBTC</a>). 
In response, Orbit Chain’s team announced efforts to freeze the stolen assets and collaborate with international crypto exchanges and law enforcement agencies to recover them. 
 You might also like: <a href="https://crypto.news/ethereum-suffered-highest-losses-due-to-rug-pulls-and-hacks-data-shows/"> Ethereum suffered highest losses due to rug pulls and hacks, data shows </a> 
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="strong-phishing-scams-continue-unabated-strong">Phishing scams continue unabated</h2> 
Phishing scams have been a scourge on the crypto industry, with several reports highlighting just how prevalent they were in 2023. According to blockchain security platform <a href="https://drops.scamsniffer.io/post/scam-sniffer-2023-crypto-phishing-scams-drain-300-million-from-320000-users/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Scam Sniffer</a>, crypto phishing scams affected more than 324,000 people in 2023, resulting in nearly $300 million in losses.&nbsp; 
Another <a href="https://www.slowmist.com/report/2023-Blockchain-Security-and-AML-Annual-Report(EN).pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> by SlowMist revealed that a total of 464 security incidents led to almost $2.5 billion in losses the same year. The numbers represent a 34.2% decrease from 2022, which recorded slightly over 300 incidents and losses of $3.8 billion. 
According to the report, last year, the decentralized finance (defi) sector was the most targeted, experiencing over 280 security incidents, which accounted for 60.7% of all incidents that year and caused $773 million in losses, which interestingly marked a substantial 62.7% decrease from 2022.&nbsp; 
Notably, the SlowMist report indicated that <a href="https://crypto.news/tag/ethereum/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ethereum</a> experienced the highest losses due to scams, rug pulls, and breaches, totaling $487 million. Polygon also fell victim to scams and hacks, with losses amounting to $123 million. 
Other blockchain security firms like PeckShield, <a href="https://twitter.com/CertiKAlert/status/1741870042537411000" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CertiK</a>, and <a href="https://t.co/TPopZPEqnc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Beosin</a> also released reports of their own, estimating total crypto losses due to scams, breaches, and exploits in 2023 between $1.51 billion and $2 billion, with the North Korea-linked hackers of <a href="https://crypto.news/north-koreas-lazarus-behind-300m-in-2023-crypto-losses/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lazarus</a> accounting for 17% of these losses. 
 Read more: <a href="https://crypto.news/biggest-crypto-hacks/"> Major crypto hacks of 2023: how the industry lost over $1 billion in minutes </a>

Polychain Capital CEO’s account hacked, promotes fake airdrop

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