IBM warned that mining attacks have surpassed ransomware attacks and become the preferred attack vector for cybercriminals

According to foreign media reports recently, IBM researchers found that 2018 cryptocurrency cybercrime was dominated by cryptojacking, surpassing ransomware attacks. Experts said that the low intrusiveness and hidden nature of malicious cryptocurrency mining is the main reason why it has become the preferred attack carrier for cybercriminals.

Cyber ​​criminals turn to mining attacks

According to a report released by the IBM X-Force research team on February 27, cyberattacks against global organizations increased significantly in 2018.

According to the report, cybercriminals appear to be moving away from ransomware and malware attacks, and cryptocurrency mining attacks dominate the field.

The report pointed out that from the first quarter of the 2018 to the fourth quarter, the hidden cryptocurrency mining attack increased by 450%. At the same time, ransomware attacks fell by 45% over the same period. IBM said that the scope of cryptocurrency attacks includes desktop PCs and mobile platforms.

In 2018, from the Tesla cloud computing platform to the Pirate Bay (TBP) torrent download service, there were many similar attacks.

The cryptocurrency mining attack is much less destructive

Experts say cybercriminals are turning to malicious cryptocurrencies for mining because they are less destructive. Charles Henderson of IBM X-Force Red said in an interview with Fortune magazine:

The system of ransomware by Telluso Software, you lost your customers after a transaction, so this is a one-time transaction, no recurring income - I mean, this is just a bad business.

Henderson said that the mining attack is similar to a revenue-subscription model, and that the hacker alliance can rely on this ongoing revenue stream as long as the victim is unaware of it. However, for ransomware attacks, an attacker can only get a payment from each victim.

There will be even worse in the future

Although on the surface, malicious cryptocurrency mining seems to be less threatening than ransomware and malware attacks, Henderson said that ignoring its spread may have serious implications in the future. He added that it is unlikely that criminals will use a mining attack to conduct a malicious attack.

More importantly, experts like Henderson say cybercriminals are perfecting their technology. Therefore, if not checked, cryptocurrency mining attacks can be diverted from secret virtual currency mining to botnets for spyware attacks. Therefore, here we recommend that readers run the latest anti-virus software version to avoid installing programs from unofficial sources.