Cryptominers Infected 10x More Organizations Than Ransomware in 2018

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Cryptominers Infected 10x More Organizations Than Ransomware in 2018

By CircleID Reporter
February 08, 2019, 12:28 am PST Views: 12,130 Add Comment

A new security report reveals cryptominers infected ten times more organizations than ransomware in 2018, but only one in five IT security professionals were aware their company’s networks had been infected by mining malware. Despite an 80% fall in cryptocurrency values, the newly released 2019 security report by Check Point, says 37% of organizations globally were hit by cryptominers in 2018, and 20% of companies continue to be hit every week. Additional noteworthy highlight from the report:

— “Threat risk of cryptominers underrated by organizations: when asked what they rated as the biggest threats to their organization, just 16% stated cryptomining, compared with DDoS attacks (34%), data breaches (53%), ransomware (54%) and phishing (66%). This is concerning, as cryptominers can easily act as stealth backdoors to download and launch other types of malware.”

— “Malware-as-a-service rises: the GandCrab Ransomware-as-a-Service affiliate program shows how amateurs can now profit from the ransomware extortion business as well. Users keep up to 60% of the ransoms collected from victims, and its developers keep up to 40%. GandCrab has over 80 active affiliates, and within two months in 2018 had infected over 50,000 victims and claimed between $300,000 and $600,000 in ransoms.”

By CircleID Reporter — CircleID’s internal staff reporting on news tips and developing stories. Do you have information the professional Internet community should be aware of? Contact us.
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