Because Bitcoin prices rise amid increasing public interest in Cryptocurrency, cyber criminals take advantage of the opportunities that create them to deceive potential victims and increase the profits they can make from their attacks.
Researchers at Barracuda recently analyzed phishing imitation and counter-attacks of business email sent between October 2020 and May 2021 and identified that the increase in bitcoin prices had caused an increase in the volume of cryptocurrency related attacks.
Threats have increased after several companies announced that they will receive payments in Bitcoin, it produces more interest in Cryptocurrency and began to push its value.
Driven by chaos around Bitcoin, the price increased by almost 400% between 2020 October and April 2021.
Cyberattack was quickly followed by an imitation attack, which caused growth to 192%.
The key catch phrase used by Bitcoinshackers users uses Bitcoin to be paid in extortion attacks where they claim to have a video or compromise information that will be released to the public if the victim does not pay to remain silent.
While this scheme has been around for some time, because the price of Bitcoin rose, Cybercriminals began entering it as part of their business email attacks who witnessed employees in an organization.
They target and personalize these e-mails to make their victims buy Bitcoin, donate them to a fake charity, or even pay a fake vendor invoice using Cryptocurrency.
Barracuda has used the AI ​​natural language processing capabilities to analyze the language used in BEC attacks related to Cryptocurrency and determine key phrases and calls to act that the hackers are used to incite their victims.
The attacker creates a sense of urgency by using phrases such as “urging today” or before “day walking” out.
Their calls to act are usually for their victims to go to the “nearest bitcoin machine.” They also played on their victims’ sentiment to request that payments be made as “charity donations,” they believe that they did good things.
Bitcoin makes Attcacax Ransomware more dangerous for rapid growth in the felt value of Bitcoin, Ransomware attacks also become more destructive than before.
In 2019 a ransom demand ranged from several thousand dollars of up to $ 2 million at the top end.
In the mid 2021, most of the demands in millions, with a significant amount of more than US $ 20 million.
Possible reasons that contribute to skyrocket demands are: fewer organizations choose to take a hit by actually paying ransom; Ransomware payments are traced by law enforcement agencies and strict actions are being taken; And, with the price of Cryptocurrency rises, it’s more expensive for organizations to pay for cybercriminals.
Hackers have carried out phishing attacks many times asking victims of wire transfers and gift cards.
They are now looking for their victims to buy and send them Bitcoin.
Organizations need to protect their users from the attack by training them to the latest email threats so they can recognize the latest tactics used by hackers.
They must make phishing simulation part of their security awareness training.
During a ransomware attack, the cloud backup solution can minimize downtime, prevent data loss, and get a restored system quickly, whether the file is located on a physical device, in a virtual environment, or public cloud.