In the Web3 universe, more than $2 billion in digital currency has been stolen in hacks this year. Firm believers in the experimental field of decentralised finance, known as DeFi, are slowly backing out or overly cautious.

In February 2022, $ 321M worth of cryptocurrencies was stolen from Wormhole, one of the most popular bridges that link the Ethereum and Solana blockchains.

In April 2022, attackers were able to exploit the algorithmic stablecoin protocol ‘Beanstalk’ to make off with crypto to the value of $182m at the time.

Crypto investors are quickly pulling out, while others have lost interest, as seen in the decline of crypto gamers on the Axie Infinity NFT game.

In the mainstream world, the Russia-linked cyber gang known as Conti is terrorising organisations and governments worldwide. The infamous group managed to cause significant disruption to financial operations throughout Costa Rica in April 2022. They attacked the Ministry of Finance and managed to cripple Costa Rica’s import/export business. A national emergency was declared, which was a first for a ransomware attack.

There was a second attack in late May 2022, which targeted the Social Security Fund. This has also been attributed to Conti as the Hive ransomware was used, and Conti is linked to its development. This unusual activity from Conti may be intended as a smokescreen while the gang tries to rebrand. Experts speculate that the gang fears the impacts of sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine conflict.

Cybersecurity starts with you — your individual efforts.