The constant evolution of cybersecurity measures is driving hackers to exploit human vulnerabilities, leading to what CertiK’s co-founder describes as an “endless war.”
Despite ongoing cybersecurity efforts in the crypto industry, protocols remain locked in a relentless battle against hackers, who frequently target the weakest link: human behavior.
According to Ronghui Gu, a computer science professor at Columbia University and co-founder of CertiK, the industry faces an uneven fight against malicious actors, who only require one point of vulnerability to compromise a protocol.
“As long as there are weak points or vulnerabilities present, these attackers will inevitably find them,” Gu noted during his appearance on Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction daily live X Spaces show.
“ So, it is an endless war”
But I’m concerned that next year’s hacks will still reach a billion-dollar scale,” Gu stated, noting that both cybersecurity measures and cybercriminals are growing more sophisticated. Yet, attackers only need to identify a single flaw among the millions of lines of code that CertiK audits each day.
Losses from crypto hacks and exploits surged to $2.47 billion in the first half of 2025, even though the number of hacks decreased in the second quarter. In Q2 alone, over $800 million was lost across 144 incidents, marking a 52% decline in value compared to the previous quarter, along with 59 fewer hacking incidents, according to a report from CertiK released on Tuesday.
In the first half of 2025, losses from hacks, scams, and exploits exceeded $2.47 billion, reflecting nearly a 3% increase from the $2.4 billion stolen throughout all of 2024.
Most of this lost value can be traced back to a single incident: a $1.4 billion hack of Bybit on February 21, which stands as the largest cyber exploit in crypto history.
Blockchain Cybersecurity Enhancements Drive Hackers to Exploit Human Behavior
According to CertiK’s Gu, advancements in blockchain cybersecurity are prompting hackers to seek out new vulnerabilities, particularly in human psychology. He explained:
“If your protocol or layer 1 blockchain becomes more secure, attackers may shift their focus to the individuals involved, such as those holding private keys.”
In 2024, approximately half of the security incidents in the crypto industry stemmed from “operational risks,” including compromised private keys, Gu noted.
Hackers are increasingly targeting the weak links in human behavior, as evidenced by the recent surge in cryptocurrency phishing scams. These social engineering tactics involve attackers sharing fraudulent links to obtain sensitive information, like private keys to crypto wallets.
For instance, on August 6, an investor lost $3 million with a single mistaken click, inadvertently signing a malicious blockchain transaction that drained $3 million worth of USDT from his wallet.
Like many investors, the victim probably confirmed the wallet address by only checking the first and last few characters before sending $3 million to the malicious actor. The discrepancies would have been evident in the middle characters, which are often concealed on platforms for aesthetic reasons.
In another case, a victim lost over $900,000 in digital assets to a sophisticated phishing attack on August 3, 458 days after unknowingly signing a malicious approval transaction for a wallet-draining scam, as reported by Cointelegraph.
Source: Cointelegraph Edited by Bernie S.