Cryptojacking Attempts Increased In Q2 As BTC Price Increases

Cryptojacking attempts surged in the second quarter of the year as the prices of bitcoin and Monero increased since the start of the year as we are reading more in our cryptocurrency news today.

The number of cryptojacking attempts has jumped as well in the second quarter of the year and the reports indicated that the proof of work-based crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Monero was increasing in value this year, as the cryptojacking cases across the world surged after a year of continues decline. The term cryptojacking refers to when a person that is unauthorized gains access to a computer for crypto mining crypto assets. These attacks can sometimes be precise and critical that the victims cannot comprehend what is draining his devices’ power for an extended period.

The recent reports compiled by the cybersecurity firm Symantec outlined that these attacks had dramatically decreased since the shutdown of the browser-based mining script maker CoinHive back in 2019. The situation got worse with the start of the year and another report by the Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky informed there was a 300% surge in cryptojacking attempts in Q1 2020 alone. Symantec asserted that the browser-based cryptojacking events blocked by the company recorded an increase of 163% compared to the previous quarter.

BTC dumped and hit a yearly low of $4000 during the harsh days of the COVID19 pandemic back in March while XMR bottomed at $32. With Bitcoin trading now at $11,000 and Monero spiking to above the $90 at the time of writing so both coins pumped by 180% since then. The reports showed examples of cryptojacking attempts surface from around the world as for example, Mexico and other Latin American countries targeted multiple times since the start of the year. Mexican companies that employ cloud services that complained about being vulnerable to these attacks.

ESET for example noted that it had identified and took down a part of the Monero-mining botnet called VictoryGate. The company warned that the company has been active for more than a year and infected about 35,000 devices. It’s no surprise that the IT professionals consider cryptojacking as a huge concern and outlining that nearly 90% of IT specialists believe these attacks will disrupt personal devices and more complex networks.