To combat cryptocurrency hacks, cybersecurity needs to be strengthened, said the head of legal and government affairs at cryptocurrency company TRM Labs.

A former Justice Department prosecutor, said finding strategies to detect and track illegal activity would mean developing better “blockchain intelligence tools” that can identify new faucets before the bad guys can get to them.

“The bad guys are getting better and their tactics are getting more sophisticated,” “But the reality is that tools, regulation, investigators and law enforcement are also getting more sophisticated.”

According to TRM Labs, more than $3.6 billion has been withdrawn from cryptocurrencies this year. About 80 percent, or about $3 billion, went to decentralized finance (DeFi).

This is because many DeFi platforms are new and have not yet developed robust cybersecurity tools, and because these platforms have a lot of liquidity, he said.

Many attacks occur on bridges that are used to transfer assets between different platforms.

Chainalysis has found that “money laundering sophistication” is becoming increasingly difficult to decipher as attackers seek to cash out on centralized exchanges, which likely won’t know the funds are stolen because attackers have hidden the source of the funds through multiple mixers.

Cryptomixers, which work like black boxes, allow users to send and receive bitcoin (BTC) anonymously.

Indeed, intelligence and tools need to be further developed to be able to identify new mixers emerging in these places