Cryptojacking Declining While Ransomware on the Rise: Kaspersky

While crypto mining malware continued to target computers, the number of attacks went down drastically in the past year, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky revealed.

In November last year, around 475,000 computing devices were attacked by Crypto Mining Crypto Mining Cryptocurrency mining is defined as the process through which the transactions of a digital currency are authenticated then published to blockchain. For every crypto transaction conducted, a crypto miner is in charge of authenticating the information which, if approved, is then updated in the blockchain. Currently, the most popular cryptocurrencies being mined are Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Monero, and DASH. How is Cryptocurrency Mined?The process of crypto mining itself involves the s Cryptocurrency mining is defined as the process through which the transactions of a digital currency are authenticated then published to blockchain. For every crypto transaction conducted, a crypto miner is in charge of authenticating the information which, if approved, is then updated in the blockchain. Currently, the most popular cryptocurrencies being mined are Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Monero, and DASH. How is Cryptocurrency Mined?The process of crypto mining itself involves the s Read this Term malware while, last October, the figure dropped to little more than 150,000.

“During the reporting period, 2 259 038 unique KSN users were attacked by miners. In the total volume of detections, the share of miners was 3.64%; for Risktool it was 6.94%,” the cybersecurity company stated.

“...the most active miner was Trojan.Win32.Miner.bbb; it accounted for 13.45% of the total number of users attacked by miners. It was followed by Trojan.Win32.Miner.ays (11.35%), Trojan.JS.Miner.m (11.12%) and Trojan.Win32.Miner.gen (9.32%).”

The attacks were concentrated in Asian countries, along with many countries in Africa and South America.

Extortion using digital currencies

However, according to the Russia-headquartered firm, the number of modifications using crypto-ransomware increased significantly, while October has seen a significant drop in the attacks.

“During the year, we detected 46 156 modifications of encryptors and discovered 22 new families,” Kaspersky noted. “During the reporting period, 755 485 unique KSN users were attacked by encryptors, including 209 679 corporate users (excluding SMB) and 22 440 SMB users.”

The report also detailed that the most vulnerable countries to these attacks are Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Mozambique, Turkmenistan, and Nepal.

Despite the declining number of crypto mining malware, hackers are constantly developing new attacking techniques to target potential victims. Finance Magnates, earlier this month, reported that hackers are using processing hollowing techniques to deceive the victims from detecting any unusual activity on their devices.

Meanwhile, infamous botnet Stantinko also added crypto mining capabilities and is using YouTube videos to deceive detection.

The decline in Cryptojacking Cryptojacking Cryptojacking is defined as the unauthorized use of an individual’s computer to mine cryptocurrency. Hackers accomplish this feat through several means.This includes obtaining access via malicious links in an email that loads crypto mining code on the computer, or by infecting a website or online ad with JavaScript code that auto-executes once loaded in the victim’s browser.Consequently, this crypto-mining code is able to work out of sight of unsuspecting victims, often without notice. The only Cryptojacking is defined as the unauthorized use of an individual’s computer to mine cryptocurrency. Hackers accomplish this feat through several means.This includes obtaining access via malicious links in an email that loads crypto mining code on the computer, or by infecting a website or online ad with JavaScript code that auto-executes once loaded in the victim’s browser.Consequently, this crypto-mining code is able to work out of sight of unsuspecting victims, often without notice. The only Read this Term malware can also be explained as many security softwares and even browsers are adding support to fight against such attacks.