As Bitcoin is losing its luster, hackers are turning their interest to other cryptocurrencies
According to Bloomberg news, bitcoin is losing its original frenzy among cybercriminals, and cybercriminals are shifting more interest to less-known cryptocurrencies. In the past two months, some of the more anonymous, cryptocurrencies, designed to evade tracking, have risen faster in value.
The industry believes that this is due to many reasons: First, the soaring value of bitcoin has aroused public and government concerns; second, more and more law enforcement agencies are beginning to use software tools to monitor the Bitcoin market; Third, some anti-cryptocurrency criminal companies (such as Chainalysis) have accumulated more experience to identify the flow of bitcoin to prevent “money laundering” and other criminal activities.
Europol has noticed that cybercriminals are looking for other cryptocurrencies to replace bitcoin in order to avert financial tests, according to a report: “Other cryptocurrencies, such as Monero and Ethereum Ethereum and Zcash tokens (ZECs) are starting to take hold, and from the recent ransomware attacks, more and more cybercriminals are also starting to demand that victims use these cryptocurrencies as ransom payments. ”
According to Wordfence, a security company, as many as 190,000 WordPress sites are hacked every hour on December 18, and its purpose is to exploit the site resources to mine Monroe.
Founded in April 2014, Monroe focuses on privacy, decentralization, and scalability. Unlike many cryptocurrencies derived from bitcoin, it is based on the CryptoNote protocol and runs on the blockchain, obfuscating the data associated with each transaction. This means that transactions cannot be traced back to individual users, making it a perfect replacement for bitcoin because it prevents law enforcement agencies from pursuing criminal transactions.
Matt Suiche, the founder of network security firm Comae Technologies, said Monroe has quietly become one of the favorite sources of revenue for cybercriminals.
Related events also prove that Suiche’s argument is not “groundless.” In the summer of 2017, a North Korean hacker group called Andariel hijacked a South Korean firm’s server for the Monroe excavation, eventually securing around 70 Monroe coins.
In the past activities of the organization, their goal has always been more valuable bitcoin. This shift from Andariel also reflects that Bitcoin seems to be no longer the preferred target for them.
Reference: Bloomberg
