Researchers from Chainalysis shared an analysis of the security of DeFi protocols, pointing out significant damage from hacker attacks in 2021 and 2022, with $2.5 billion and $3.1 billion stolen respectively. However, in 2023, the level of losses decreased due to enhanced security measures by developers.

Mari Jimenez-Aguilar, a leading security architect and researcher at Halborn, noted in 2023 an increase in the frequency and severity of attacks in the DeFi sector. Chains based on EVM and Solana were particularly vulnerable, due to their popularity among users.

Security experts expressed the opinion that the initial vulnerabilities in DeFi protocols arose due to developers' focus on growth and scaling, at the expense of security. However, by 2023, the situation improved: losses from hacks decreased by 63.7%, the average damage from one attack decreased by 7.4%, and the number of exploits decreased by 17.2%.

Representatives of Halborn classify attacks on DeFi protocols into two categories: internal (within the chain) and external (outside the chain). Internal attacks are related to problems in the network components of DeFi, such as smart contracts, and do not pose a threat to centralized services. External attacks occur due to vulnerabilities outside the blockchain, for example, due to improper storage of private keys in cloud storage. These problems are relevant for both DeFi protocols and centralized services.