There’s been a huge growth in malicious cryptomining
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The price of cryptocurrencies may be surprisingly low these days, but cybercriminals don’t seem to be giving up on the new technology. In fact, the number of malicious cryptocurrency miners skyrocketed in the third quarter of the year.
That’s according to a new report from cybersecurity expert Kaspersky. In its latest report, the company says there is a 230% increase in cryptocurrency miner variants in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year. Compared to Q3 2021, the number has tripled.
That said, there were more than 150,000 different cryptocurrency miners identified as being used by criminals in the third quarter of 2022 alone. Their profits, according to the researchers, can amount to 2 BTC per month, which is around $32,000 at current prices. Usually, cybercriminals opt for monero, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that is nearly impossible to trace.
Distribution via pirates
To proliferate the miners, hackers use platforms for the distribution of illegal content, such as movies, music, computer games and commercial software. By posing the miners as cracks, activators and even programming themselves, scammers can distribute the miners to a wide spectrum of victims.
Mining is a maintenance-friendly operation with low margins. To participate in mining, one must have the latest computer hardware, sufficient electrical power, and some bandwidth. With the cost of electricity skyrocketing and the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies falling significantly, many legitimate miners are shutting down their rigs and waiting for more profitable days.
However, by hijacking other people’s devices and electricity, criminals avoid the initial setup cost and generate pure profit, while leaving victims with underperforming endpoints (opens in new tab) and high electricity bills. The mining software is generally easy to compile and can also be obtained relatively cheaply on the dark web.