Cybercriminals are reportedly favoring unhurried approaches in attacks made for financial gains, with cryptojacking as a prime example of this shift. IT news website ComputerWorld reported on this development on March 14. Data released by cybersecurity company Darktrace reveals that cryptojacking attempts increased by 78 percent in 2018, and, according to ComputerWorld, the company also said that this trend continued in 2019. The ComputerWorld article cites Max Heinemeyer, director of threat hunting at Darktrace, commenting on the findings. He reportedly said that since many ransomware victims may be unable to pay a ransom in Bitcoin (BTC) due to technical ineptitude, …

The New Zealand police have returned the office building back to recently hacked crypto exchange Cryptopia and granted permission to resume trading. However, the exchange is not ready to renew its activity, according to a message purportedly sent by a Cryptoptia staff member on the official Discord channel on Feb. 24. After the hack that led to more than $16.1 million stolen from the crypto exchange, New Zealand police had launched an investigation along with international law enforcement to track the hackers. The initial hacking attack began on Jan. 15 and reportedly lasted about two weeks, with funds removed from …

The United States’ law enforcement recovered and returned over $104,000 stolen from the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, according to a Medium post by the exchange published on Feb. 25. The funds returned are reportedly just under 27.7 Bitcoins (BTC), which were stolen in August 2016 in a hack that involved the theft of around 120,000 BTC in total. At the time, Bitfinex reportedly generalized the losses across all accounts and credited BFX tokens, one per every dollar lost, to those affected by the hack. These tokens could be redeemed for one dollar each or exchanged for the company’s stocks. The holders …

A link to a phishing LocalBitcoins clone website had been placed on the official LocalBitcoins forum, but the attack has since been stopped. A LocalBitcoins community manager warned of the attack on Reddit on Jan. 26. According to the post, an unidentified hacker or hacker group detected a security vulnerability in the LocalBitcoins forum and linked it to a phishing forum. Even before the official communication, a Reddit user warned in a post on the Bitcoin (BTC) subreddit: “When visiting the localbitcoins forum [...] users are prompted to log into their account, as if they have been logged out. This …

The value of Ethereum (ETH) stolen via scams reached $36 million 2018, according to a report released by crypto analytics company Chainalysis on Jan. 23. According to the Chainalysis report, scams that occurred last year were reportedly more sophisticated, bigger and vastly more lucrative. Chainalysis also reports that Ethereum has “long been known as the cryptocurrency of choice for scams.” Chainalysis reports that the value of stolen funds more than doubled in 2018, compared to the $17 million in ETH obtained through scams in 2017. The increase in profits occurred despite the fact that the number of scams declined compared …

Following international police collaboration, a 36-year-old individual suspected of the theft of over $11 million in IOTA, as well as fraud and money laundering, has been arrested on Jan. 24. Europol published a statement detailing the investigation on the day of the arrest. The suspect was reportedly arrested by United Kingdom’s South East Regional Organised Crime Unit, together with the Hessen State Police in Germany, the UK’s National Crime Agency and Europol, following a search warrant carried out in Oxford, U.K. The operation that lead to the man’s arrest — and the seizure of several of his electronic devices — …

During last year the value of Bitcoin (BTC) sent to darknet markets increased by 70 percent, according to a Chainalysis report published on Jan. 18. The Chainalysis report points out that darknet activity is relatively not influenced by Bitcoin’s price action and does not necessarily drop when the price drops. According to the data contained in the report, in 2018 the relationship between the value of darknet market transactions and Bitcoin’s market performance was inverse. Over the course of 2018, the total value sent to darknet markets saw a notable 70 percent increase, while total Bitcoin economic transaction value dropped …

A new cryptojacking malware has the ability to disable cloud-based security measures to avoid detection on Linux servers, research by information security company Palo Alto Networks Jan. 17 reveals. The malware in question mines Monero (XMR) and is reportedly a modified version of one used by the so-called “Rocke” group, originally discovered by cybersecurity firm Talos in August last year. According to the research, one of the first things that the malware does is check for other cryptocurrency mining processes and add firewall rules to block any other cryptojacking malware. The virus reportedly also searches for cloud security services by …

The Ethereum Classic 51 percent attacker has reportedly returned $100,000 to cryptocurrency exchange Gate.io, a post on the official exchange’s blog reports on Jan. 12. The company further noted that they tried contacting the attacker but didn’t get any reply until now, and that they do not know the reason why the funds have been returned. The exchange declared: “If the attacker didn't run it for profit, he might be a white hacker who wanted to remind people the risks in blockchain consensus and hashing power security.” A white hat hacker is a hacker with a strong professional ethic who …

Cryptojacking, the unauthorized use of another’s hardware to mine cryptocurrency, has become the biggest cyber threat in many parts of the world, Bloomberg reported Dec. 14. According to research from cyber security research firm Kaspersky Lab, cryptojacking overtook ransomware as the biggest cybersecurity threat particularly in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. In Afghanistan and Ethiopia over one out of four detected malware are cryptocurrency miners, according to Kaspersky’s data. As cited by the Bloomberg, Kaspersky’s research “shows crypto mining attacks have risen almost fourfold in the region, from 3.5 million in 2017 to 13 million this year.” The cybersecurity …

The CEO of cybersecurity firm Cuvepia declared that his company detected over 30 attacks on crypto-bearing individuals probably carried out by North Korean hackers, English-language media site South China Morning Post reports Nov. 29. Kwon Seok-Chul, the CEO of the aforementioned South Korean cybersecurity company, said that the new targets of the suspected North Korean cyberattacks “are just simple wallet users investing in cryptocurrency.” He then added that many cases probably haven’t been detected, and that there may have been well over 100 attacks. As the article states, the “targeting of individuals holding virtual currencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) marks …

Cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes has found that scammers are using malware that targets the Bitcoin (BTC) wallet addresses of Fortnite gamers, according to a post published October 2. Fortnite is currently one of the most popular video games in the world, with reports suggesting that 125 million people are active players. Malwarebytes has investigated the game’s online ecosystem and found that “con artists” are sneaking malicious data theft code into downloads that apparently promise “free” season six Fortnite Android versions, among other “bogus cheats, wallhacks and aimbots.” So-called “free V-Bucks” – an in-game currency that can be used to purchase additional …