Based on a recent research, the amount of cryptocurrencies which have been stolen due to cybercrimes so far this year amounts to more than $ 1.1 billion. The firm that produced the research Carbon Black, said that the cryptocurrency was easy to steal.
According to the report made by the security firm Carbon Black, many criminals are using the darknet to remain anonymous. It’s estimated that there are over 12,000 markets with nearly three times that number of crypto thieves recorded in there.
Carbon Black security strategist Rick McElroy spoke with CNBC regarding the uptrend and also how easy it is for criminals to operate these days:
“It’s surprising just how easy it is without any tech skill to commit cybercrimes like ransomware, It’s not always these large nefarious groups, it’s in anybody’s hands.” said Carbon Black Security strategist Rick McElroy
McElroy stated that this malware comes with a customer support system for a criminal. According to the details, the program can be bought for $224 generally, but there are a few more affordable $104.
The most elaborate attacks on businesses or exchanges are made by groups of criminals. However, it’s believed that these groups are experienced engineers who don’t have a job. McElroy added:
“You have nations that are teaching coding, but there’s no jobs, It could just be two people in Romania needing to pay rent.”
The security expert goes on to say that with cryptocurrencies, the responsibility to safeguard assets rests with the trader who holds it. Finishing with the conclusion that some naive investors do not know that there are no banks or institutions which can offer safety to individuals using cryptocurrencies.
The exchanges that were largest victims of 2018
The most significant group of cybercrimes is where cryptocurrencies are gained by hacking into exchanges, which represents 27 percent of attacks in 2018. The biggest attack of all was on the Japanese exchange Coincheck. On that event, the attackers took $530 million in NEM coins.
The second biggest was on regular companies. These represent 21 percent of the total of crimes where there are included cryptocurrencies. The most frequent technique is used was ransomware.
We know for a while that Bitcoin isn’t the preferred cryptocurrency of the criminals. Monero and Ethereum are usually the most popular. The first is the one that remains with the first position to receive 44 percent of the favoritism of criminals. The next is Ethereum with 11 percent, and eventually, Bitcoin appears in the third with 10 percent.
