Ethical crypto hackers awarded $66M in bounties

Blockchain security firm Immunefi has reported that it has processed more than $65.9 million in crypto bounties paid to ethical hackers over 1,248 reports since it was founded in 2020.

According to a Dec. 22 report, Web 3.0 projects list bounty programs on the Immunefi platform to encourage white hat hackers to report vulnerabilities and claim rewards, which the company then facilitates.

The report found that the median payout was $2,000, while the average one was $52,800. The majority of vulnerability notifications were related to smart contracts, accounting for 58.3% of paid reports.

In terms of ransom analysis, the report revealed that malicious hackers have returned $32.7 million in funds gained from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols across five specific situations in 2022.

Meanwhile, hackers have kept $6.44 million in total ransom payments. Some experts argue that paying ransoms amounts to giving in to extortion. Still, most agree that establishing a bug bounty program beforehand is more effective.

Immunefi currently offers $144 million in bounty rewards through Web 3.0 projects listed on its platform.

The news follows recent reports that North Korean hackers have stolen around $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency and other virtual assets over the past five years. Most of those were taken in 2021 alone.