Crypto Hacks Reach Record $766M in September

September saw a surge in crypto hacks, with losses totaling $766.49 million, according to PeckShield's count of 55 major incidents. This represents a staggering 462% increase from August's $136.3 million in losses.

The two largest breaches account for nearly all the losses: Bitget was hit for around $387 million, while Liquid Network suffered a loss of approximately $320 million. However, it's worth noting that $285 million of the stolen funds were returned.

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen attributed the hack to an unauthorized transfer from the exchange's hot wallets, which was facilitated by a spoofed transaction and exploited authorization process. Chen ruled out a private key compromise and emphasized that cold wallets remained unaffected. The exchange has committed to covering the losses from its User Protection Fund.

Liquid Network, on the other hand, reported a theft of 4,000 BTC on September 6, using the SideSwap peg-out authorization key. The hacker initially promised to return the funds once all nodes were patched but was met with skepticism by Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet.