The number of cryptocurrency-related threats depends on asset prices, which have fallen sharply since the market crash in May, according to a recent report by a leading Internet security company. Their number fell by almost a quarter, but Russia remains the most affected country, with the US also in the top 3.
ESET: 1 in 10 cryptocurrency-related threats were detected in Russia
Software threats in the cryptocurrency sector, especially mining malware, are highly dependent on developments in the cryptocurrency market, ESET concluded in its T2 2021 threat report. studies covering the second third of the year and supplying:
“Cryptocurrency investment scams, in which fraudsters lure unsuspecting victims to fake investment sites or impersonate government agencies and even celebrities, are more popular than ever.”
The victims of this type of fraud have lost at least $ 80 million in just a few months since October 2020, the US Federal Trade Commission said in May. Meanwhile, a crypto of the Ponzi scheme in Russia, Finiko, has stolen more than half of the $ 800 million in cryptocurrencies sent from Eastern Europe to fraudulent addresses, the blockchain forensic firm Chainalysis has revealed.
However, ESET’s detection of all cryptocurrency-related threats in T2, 2021 decreased by 23.6%. Some countries are deeply affected by this phenomenon. Most notably, the Russian Federation is still at the top of the list, representing 10% of all cases. Russia is followed by Peru with 6.8% and the United States is in third place with 5.3%, the report said.
“In the last few months, we have seen that while the number of cryptominers fluctuated along with the prices of cryptocurrencies, the number of cryptostealers did not appear to be affected by the same factors,” said Jiří Kropáč, head of threat detection laboratories at ESET. Cryptominers, like prices, are affected by government regulations and large investments in specific coins, he explained.
However, cryptostealers are not so dependent on the volatile market, Kropáč added. “There is no reason for cybercriminals to abandon this if the value of the coin falls, as they are a reliable tool that brings profit and opportunities for blackmail,” said ESET’s manager.
The European Cyber Security Society also stated that it continued to monitor cryptojacking domains during the reporting period. “By the very nature of this activity – running cryptocurrency software in the background of compromised sites – the most visited cryptojacking domains continue to be adult content portals, free streaming sites, torrent sites and forums,” ESET said.
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