Crypto Industry Lost ~$110M to Hacks in July; Audit Contests Cheaper Than Private Audits

Odaily Planet Daily's news flash on Aug. 10 cited data showing that cryptocurrency industry losses from hacker attacks reached about $110 million in July. Researchers whose vulnerability findings were confirmed received approximately $2.32 million in payments, while the number of confirmed and paid vulnerability reports grew 18% month over month. A review of 1,178 first-line audit reports revealed a median of zero critical or high-severity vulnerabilities. In 58 audit contests, each contest found an average of 6.2 severe vulnerabilities, versus 1.5 for first-line audits. The data show that the average cost to identify a critical vulnerability via an audit contest was roughly $6,548. That is sharply below the approximately $66,000 cost of a private first-line audit and the estimated $24.5 million loss when a vulnerability is exploited by hackers before discovery. The report also compared costs across different vulnerability discovery methods. The figures cover only confirmed and paid vulnerability reports.