Data, Not Dollars: The Ongoing Threat of Data Breaches in Web3

This report examines 74 historical Web3 breaches (2011–2023), categorizing incidents as protocol exploits or network breaches and focusing on 23 breaches where data is potentially retrievable. It documents how stolen data is trafficked (dark web markets, hacker forums, Telegram), finds active sale listings for a portion of the retrievable data, discusses the heightened long-term risk to individuals from exposed PII and persistent data availability, and offers mitigation guidance such as reducing centralized data exposure, enabling 2FA, and using self-custody for assets.