Cryptocurrency mining News – Are hackers switching over from Ransomware to Cryptojacking?

Cryptojacking attacks are becoming more and more common. In spite of the downturn in most of the cryptocurrencies, hackers are not shying away from launching new Cryptojacking malware. Moreover, it is becoming more and more difficult to detect Cryptojacking malware as well. In fact, in some of the countries, Cryptojacking attacks are more frequent as compared to ransomware attacks.

Are hackers switching over from ransomware to Cryptojacking?

Recently, as per a report by Kaspersky Lab, Cryptojacking attempts are more common in Turkey, Middle East as well as Africa. Even in countries with low Internet penetration like Afghanistan and Ethiopia, instances of Cryptojacking attacks have been revealed. This clearly indicates that for many of these countries, Cryptojacking attacks are more dominant as compared to ransomware attacks.

According to the report, the instances of Cryptojacking attacks have increased from 3.5 million in the preceding year to 13 million this year. This is a fourfold increase in just one year. In spite of the fall in cryptocurrency prices, it seems like Cryptojacking attacks are becoming more and more common. This is because the cost of launching a Cryptojacking malware is pretty small. Comparatively, it is easy to spread Cryptojacking malware. It is very hard for anti-virus and anti-malware programs to catch Cryptojacking malware. Owing to this very reason, the success rate is pretty high.

The problem is that with Cryptojacking overtaking ransomware as a cyber-security threat, the detection becomes crucial. However, many of the people do not notice the lag in performance when they become the victim of Cryptojacking attempt. It is only when their machine slows down significantly and they are not able to perform even the basic operations, they might conduct the scan of their machine. Owing to this very reason, it can take a long period of time for most of the victims to realize that they are under a Cryptojacking attack. By that time, most of the malware would have mined a significant amount of cryptocurrency.

There are still quite a few cryptocurrencies which are difficult to trace like Monero (XMR). That is why, even when these malware are caught, the culprits behind these malware attacks cannot be caught. They simply create new malware and work on spreading that malware. This is the reason why it is becoming more and more difficult to hold the Cryptojacking attempts. One thing which is for sure is that with the increasing popularity of cryptocurrency, Cryptojacking can surely emerge as the biggest cybersecurity threat on a global basis.