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Cybercrime rife last year, and the cryptocurrency market did not do exception, as evidenced by hacks involving bitcoin ransoms and use of cryptojacking. Cryptojacking involves using someone's processors to secretly mine cryptocurrency without the permission of that person. And according to a report from the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) entitled "The Cyber Threat to UK Business", cryptojacking is likely to become a regular source of revenue for homeowners. of websites. "
The price of a cyberattack is high, both in terms of reputation and financially. And while companies are increasing their cybersecurity defenses, the threat of a security breach has not diminished. If anything, it is intensified with the rise of cloud technology where sensitive data is stored and also the cryptocurrency extraction, where cyber criminals in 2017 have mounted the wave of cryptocurrency price hikes.
The report reveals that cryptojacking authors are twofold, coming from both hackers and website owners who "used CPU processing power of visitors to exploit cryptocurrency for their own gain." financial". US companies have decided that it was acceptable to use the processors of their visitors to exploit Monero if this visitor was using an advertising blocker. The website, however, informed its visitors of the plan in order to "recoup lost advertising revenue".
Cryptojacking remains a threat to security as long as the interest in cryptocurrencies remains "strong", the report suggests.
Threat of cryptojacking
Cryptojacking via malware is not new on the scene and has been used by cyber criminals to secretly mine bitcoin or other digital parts for years. But for the period 2018-2019, a "new mining cryptocurrency technique" has emerged that "exploits visitors on a website", and it has become the main threat, the report says.
For example, as of February 2018 alone, thousands of websites globally and hundreds in the UK "secretly extract cryptocurrency through a screen-reading plug-in compromise for the blind and visually impaired . " its size and the miners were generating profits, more than half of the companies around the world "were affected by cryptomutiers," reveals the report.
The bad news is that the problem will not go away soon –
"Popular Web sites will likely continue to be compromised, used to encrypt malware from visitors, and software available on a Web page will use the computing power of the Web site. 39, computer visitor to exploit the digital currency Monero. "- Report of the NCA
But if you notice a slowdown in the performance of your computer or a sudden jump in use, these are signals that your processors or GPUs have been invaded by cryptojackers. The report suggests using an ad blocker or antivirus software designed to detect the harmful activity of cryptojacking.
Ratio of Bitcoin
Here is an illustration of what WannaCry ransomware victims faced on their computers last year, with hackers demanding payment in "bitcoin only" to recover lost files.
A South Korean web hosting company has paid BTC ransom, with a value of US $ 20,000. ;one million dollars. At the same time, DDoS attacks multiplied in 2017, with the number of instances having increased by more than 90% in September 2017 compared to January of last year. As CCN has reported previously, however, hackers are disabled by the volatility of bitcoin due to price volatility and, as a result, have turned to ransoms denominated in fiat money.
Image from Shutterstock to photo
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