USA, Russia and China to be the main targets for cryptocurrency hackers

A recent investigation conducted by Group-IB, an international firm dedicated to investigate and prevent sophisticated crimes and online fraud, revealed that the USA, Russia and China are going to be the main targets for crypto hackers. The firm released their findings in a report titled “2018 Cryptocurrency Exchanges-User Accounts Leaks Analysis” that mainly analyzed user account leaks. The research mainly aims at providing recommendations for ensuring the security of users and exchanges.

The researchers observed that there was an increased number of compromised accounts in 2017 when compared to the year 2016. Moreover, they observed that the number of incidents further hit the roof in January 2018, with an increase of 689% against the monthly average count of 2017. This was due to all the excitement about cryptocurrencies, stated researchers.

Therefore, the experts of  Group-IB concluded that the industry is not ready to defend its users and fight against hacker groups that target the cryptocurrency industry.

The key findings from the report said:

“The number of malicious programs used by cybercriminals is constantly increasing, and the tools are regularly modified. Criminals have adapted patterns of attack on banks and used the same tools to hack cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets and make attacks on users.”

The Director of Group-IB, Ruslan Yusufov said that the world will be seeing an increase in the number of hacking incidents in the year 2018 and urges scholars, researchers, and the academic community to come together and find a resolution. He said:

“Increased fraudulent activity and attention of hacker groups to crypto industry, additional functional of malicious software related to cryptocurrencies, as well as the significant amounts of already stolen funds signal that the industry is not ready to defend itself and protect its users. In 2018 we will see even more incidents. The dark side of the crypto industry requires a response from the community, including researchers, scholars and the academia.”

Group-IB’s researchers went on to state:

“The USA, Russia, and China are TOP-3 countries in which registered users became the victims of cyber attacks. Every third victim is from the USA.”

Therefore, the experts of  Group-IB concluded that the industry is not ready to defend its users and fight against hacker groups that target the cryptocurrency industry.

A report issued  by cybersecurity company CipherTrace read:

“In the last two years alone, some of the best and brightest criminal minds made off with $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency from exchanges. The first half of 2018 experienced a three-fold increase over the entire year of 2017. In addition, the FBI has reported an almost six-fold increase in the value of virtual currency in complaints from 2015 to 2017.”