Crypto-Mining takes over Ransomware Attacks

People churn revenue by collecting crypto-currencies and this they do by making use of their hardware. But that's not where everything ends, because malware writers too develop wares which they use for a specific advantage i.e. apply them on other people and make them fulfill the task on their behalf. Indeed, this is fresh trend among malware owners although it's unlikely to continue for long.

The new Global Threat Landscape Report from Fortinet the worldwide leader in production of cyber-security software of wide, inclusive and automated kind delineates the company's findings. The study tells how cyber-criminals are making more evolutionary attack techniques so that their speed of infections and rates of success increase. The importance of ransomware still remains as it affects organizations destructively. However, evidences show that certain online crooks currently compromise systems not so much as for blackmailing the users for paying up ransoms but for using those systems to mine crypto-currencies.

The core motivation of cyber-criminals is earning money. So they perform crypto-jacking as a means for generating income. Presently, crypto-jacking incidences are more in number that ransomware attacks in the ratio 1:100, while the rate will keep on rising till the time virtual currencies stay in high demand.

During the past few months, crypto-mining turned out a highly sought after malware, increasing a huge 4,000% within the consumer economy in January-March. The malware had been also popular within the commercial sector, showing a 27% rise within the entire detections, same months. The rise took it to rank 2 among most frequent digital contaminations, after adware, notes Malwarebytes. Contrarily, ransomware a prominent threat in recent years went through a remarkable fall (35%) within the consumer sector. One reason possibly is targeting ransomware in a more refined way on the corporate sector, while another could be major ransomware writers were stopped during their creations. Economictimes.indiatimes.com posted this, May 18, 2018.

So till the time virtual currencies' popularity continues and there's a market demand for them, the above mentioned numbers will keep on rising. Frighteningly, however, one can't tell to what new direction the criminals would turn at the time crypto-currencies' importance start declining.

» SPAMfighter News - 5/28/2018