December brought an unexpected slowdown in crypto crime, but the incidents that did occur reveal how little the threat model has actually changed.
According to data from PeckShield, attackers extracted roughly $76 million from the crypto ecosystem during the month – a steep drop compared with November’s losses, yet still driven largely by basic, repeatable attack methods.
- Crypto losses fell sharply in December, but scams and user errors still drove most incidents.
- Address poisoning scams and private key leaks caused the largest losses.
- Browser-based wallets remained a common attack target.
- Basic security habits, not new technology, remain the strongest defense.
The decline in dollar value masks a familiar reality: users are still being exploited more often than code.
Where the money actually went
Rather than a cascade of protocol failures, December’s damage was concentrated in just a few cases. The single largest loss came from an address poisoning scheme, where a victim mistakenly sent funds to a lookalike wallet address. The scam succeeded not through hacking, but through deception – mimicking the first and last characters of a known address and waiting for a careless confirmation. One such mistake cost a user about $50 million.
Another significant incident stemmed from compromised private keys tied to a multi-signature wallet, resulting in losses exceeding $27 million. While multisig setups are designed for added protection, they offer no defense once keys are exposed.
Together, these cases accounted for the vast majority of December’s losses, despite more than two dozen recorded incidents.
Why fewer losses don’t mean better security
The lower headline number reflects fewer extreme events, not safer behavior. PeckShield logged 26 major exploits during the month, many of them smaller but still avoidable. Among the notable examples was a browser-extension exploit affecting Trust Wallet, which led to around $7 million in losses, and a separate breach within the Flow ecosystem that drained close to $4 million.
These attacks shared a common thread: always-online environments. Browser and software wallets remain permanently connected, making them attractive targets when extensions, dependencies, or user permissions are abused.
The weakest link remains the human layer
December’s data reinforces a long-standing conclusion in crypto security: most losses do not come from sophisticated zero-day exploits. They come from rushed transactions, reused addresses, unchecked permissions, and exposed keys.
Address poisoning scams, for example, require no technical breakthrough. They rely entirely on habits – copying from transaction history, skimming address strings, or trusting visual familiarity instead of verification.
The information provided in this article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. Coindoo.com does not endorse or recommend any specific investment strategy or cryptocurrency. Always conduct your own research and consult with a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
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Source: https://coindoo.com/crypto-theft-slows-in-december-as-scams-replace-major-hacks/
