If you’re concerned about cybersecurity, and you’re not up to speed on illicit crypto mining, aka ‘cryptojacking,’ then it’s time to get with the program. Cryptojacking is now more prevalent than ransomware, 2017’s most popular cyberattack method.
As I explained in my March 2018 article Top Cyberthreat Of 2018: Illicit Cryptomining, cryptojacking is where an attacker surreptitiously installs cryptocurrency mining software on a target system. The software – which may not even technically be malware – consumes processor cycles and their requisite electricity to process cryptocurrency transactions, thus earning the attacker a commission, usually in the anonymous cryptocurrency Monero.
The fact that cryptojacking software doesn’t have to establish a command and control link to the attacker, combined with the fact that the victim is only losing processing cycles that may have gone idle anyway, contribute to cryptojacking’s surge in popularity among hackers. “If 2017 was the year of ransomware, 2018 looks likely to go down as the year of cryptominers,” explains the Vulnerability and Threat Trends 2018 Mid-Year Update by Skybox Security. “Cryptomining malware is often able to run undetected, making money for attackers all the while.”
Read the entire article at https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2018/07/29/cryptojacking-displaces-ransomware-as-most-popular-cyberthreat/.
Intellyx publishes the Agile Digital Transformation Roadmap poster, advises companies on their digital transformation initiatives, and helps vendors communicate their agility stories. As of the time of writing, none of the organizations mentioned in this article are Intellyx customers. Image credit: S. Brickman.
