The Top Three Security Stories of 2018

Cashing in on Cryptocurrency

Methods of profiting from virtual currencies increased substantially

The volatile nature of cryptocurrencies means their values rise and fall steeply and quickly, but despite that, threat actors still try to take advantage of their virtual nature. The well-publicized peak of Bitcoin in late 2017 attracted get-rich-quick malware authors, causing the number of cryptocurrency mining families to rise. We also saw many threat actors trying new ways to mine cryptocurrencies in 2018 — from using malicious add-ons for media platforms to abusing internet of things devices. There were also multiple attempts to hack cryptocurrency exchanges through many different social engineering schemes — classic ways to manipulate someone into handing over access into their account. It seems that many different threat actors were quite focused on profiting from cryptocurrencies.

The desire to profit from cryptocurrencies isn't just limited to threat actors; normal individuals naturally want to do so as well. Mining in itself is not malicious, and since it went mainstream, it is largely considered a legitimate practice if done by consenting parties. There are even some websites that are experimenting with new ways to make money without ads by asking users for permission use their system resources to mine.

Since cryptocurrency mining has been adopted by both legitimate users and threat actors, it is considered malicious only if done without the user’s knowledge or permission. As regulators increase their oversight on cryptocurrency, mining rights may change as well. But for now, it is largely dependent on user consent.