Millions upon millions of dollars were siphoned away by scams and exploits in the month of July alone.
Forta Network, the blockchain security firm, has enhanced its scam detection service by incorporating malicious URL data, introducing novel threat classifications, and integrating smart contract scanners designed to counter the latest crypto attack vectors, according to a spokesperson speaking with CoinDesk.
This development coincides with heightened security efforts by cryptocurrency developers in response to the burgeoning ecosystem’s vulnerability to malevolent code, rogue programmers, and cyberattacks.
The upgraded service, slated to go live on Tuesday, operates across Forta’s supported seven Ethereum Virtual Machine chains, encompassing Ethereum, Polygon, and BNB Chain. Unlike its predecessor, which solely analyzed on-chain data related to scam activities, the latest iteration also includes the identification of malicious URLs.
The updated version, developed with contributions from security firms such as Blocksec and Nethermind, employs predictive techniques to identify on-chain addresses linked to known scammers and contracts that closely resemble known fraudulent entities.
Forta reported that wallet providers like Zengo have successfully integrated the Scam Detector into their systems to notify users about malicious addresses during the pre-signed transaction screening process.
Forta’s service relies on a team of automated bots, constantly monitoring various threat vectors in real-time to detect potential scam activities. When these bots detect suspicious behavior indicative of a scammer, they generate real-time alerts for user review.
The cryptocurrency landscape has long been a prime target for cybercriminals, owing to its inherent vulnerabilities, including intricate code, a highly interconnected ecosystem, and the storage of vast sums of money on occasionally obscure platforms.
In July, crypto traders experienced significant losses totaling approximately $303 million in token value, as earlier documented by CoinDesk. A substantial portion of these losses, around $125 million, occurred within the blockchain bridging protocol Multichain. Additionally, a noteworthy $72 million exploit targeted the DeFi giant Curve Finance, exploiting a vulnerability found in certain iterations of the smart contract coding language known as Vyper.
