Cryptojacking is the new ransomware. Is that a good thing?
Browser-based crypto jacking is becoming very popular amongst cybercriminals, especially when end users are concerned.
Making money from mining crypto currencies isn’t just something that people do with their own hardware, malware authors have also been creating malicious software to have other people do the hard work them – and we don’t mean cloud mining. While this represents a new fad in the realm of malware authorship though, it may not be around in this guise for long.
In our history of malware feature, we looked at how malware tends to come in waves. While the latest and most dangerous in recent memory has been ransomware, it’s been pushed far from the top spot of common attacks in recent months by the advent of crypt miners, which look to force infected systems to mine cryptocurrency directly. While it may have been riding high recently though, like the value of cryptocurrencies themselves, it’s a malware type that already seems to be on the decline.
The cybercriminals are always financially motivated, crypto jacking is yet another method for them to generate revenue. Currently, it’s outpacing ransomware reports by a factor of 1 to 100, and these numbers will continue to increase for as long a virtual currencies remain popular and the market demands it.”
It is noted that Crypto mining had become one of the most common malware in recent months. It suggested that it had increased by as much as 4,000 percent in the consumer sector over the last quarter. It was also growing in the business space, with a 27 percent increase in overall detections during last quarter. This increase made it the second most common digital infection. Malwarebytes noted over the past three months, falling only just behind adware. In comparison, ransomware, which has been a major threat for the past few years, saw a notable decline in the consumer space, falling by 35 percent. Part of that could be to do with the more sophisticated targeting of ransomware at businesses and larger enterprises, but it may also be that the top producers of the ransomware software have been halted in their tracks.
Browser-based crypto jacking is becoming very popular amongst cybercriminals, especially when end users are concerned. Deploying it within legitimate and high-traffic websites after they’re breached their security will immediate return-on-investment as each visitor will mine cryptocurrency for as long as the script-based miner remains on the server.
Crypto jacking is definitely here to stay. These numbers will continue to increase for as long as virtual currencies remain popular and the market demands it. The scary part is not knowing where the criminals will go when cryptocurrencies no longer interest them.
Read on: https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech-talk/cryptojacking-is-the-new-ransomware-is-that-a-good-thing/3037