Cyber attackers next target is Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency has made a giant leap from being a part of the science community to become a common topic of discussion in almost every gathering, real or virtual. It is important to note the qualities of crypto which make it a lucrative mode of currency, it also attracts cybercriminals who use these features to trick potential victims and increase their profits.

The growing cases of crypto scams and cyberattacks have affected millions of investors around the world and have also led to a decrease in the value of crypto-related stocks. According to the data gathered by CloudSEK, crypto-related cyberattacks accounted for 2.9% of all reported cyber threats in 2021 with an 8.4% increase from February to October.

Cryptojacking is a form of cybercrime in which hackers utilize people’s gadgets (computers, cellphones, tablets, and even servers) to mine for cryptocurrencies without their permission. Crypto mining is the method of obtaining cryptocurrency through the use of high-powered computers by solving cryptographic equations.

Hackers achieve this via infecting websites or online ads with JavaScript code that auto-executes once loaded in the victim’s browser or by convincing the victim to click on a malicious link in a customized email that loads the crypto mining code on the machine. Once the code is loaded, it executes in the background, unnoticed by the victim. The only visible signs of this are a decrease in CPU performance and slowness of the system.

Cryptocurrency investment companies are the target of a developing threat cluster that uses Telegram groups to seek out potential victims. Microsoft's Security Threat Intelligence Center is tracking the activity under the name DEV-0139, and builds upon a recent report from Volexity that attributed the same set of attacks to North Korea's Lazarus Group.

The backdoor mainly enables remote access to the host by gathering information from the targeted system and connecting to a command-and-control server to receive additional commands. The cryptocurrency market remains a field of interest for threat actors, Microsoft said. Targeted users are identified through trusted channels to increase the chance of success.

The number of unique cyberattacks is constantly growing, and the market for cybercriminal services is expanding and moving into ordinary social media and messaging apps, thereby significantly lowering the entry threshold for cybercriminals

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA