Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, has released a report regarding malware targeting the crypto sector. The report noted that cybercriminals were using ‘less sophisticated malware to attack individuals.<\/p>\n
Different types of malware are used to conduct unauthorized activity on a victim’s phone or computer. The Chainalysis report did not include ransomware, a type of malware usually targeting high profile individuals and organizations for financial extortion.<\/p>\n
The Chainalysis report<\/a> looked into different malware, including information stealers, clippers, cryptojackers and trojans. These types of malware are cheap to acquire, and they can even be deployed by “low-skilled cybercriminals.” The malware can be used to steal funds from victims.<\/p>\n Trojans were attributed to 19% of the entire malware attacks in the sector, while cryptojacking took the largest share of 73%. Information stealers and clippers accounted for only 1% each.<\/p>\n The report notes that the hackers send the proceeds to centralized exchanges in most cases. However, the amount being sent to CEX’s is declining. In 2021, only 54% of the stolen funds were sent to exchanges, which is significantly low from the 75% and 90% reported in 2020 and 2019, respectively.<\/p>\n The report notes that DeFi protocols were increasingly being used as an avenue to send these funds. “DeFi protocols make up much of the difference at 20% in 2021, after having received a negligible share of malware funds in 2020.”<\/p>\n Information stealers have also been increasingly used. The report pointed to the Hackboss clipper that has stolen over half a million dollars worth of crypto since 2012.<\/p>\n The cryptojacking malware accounted for the largest amounts of funds stolen from the crypto sector. This type of malware uses computing power from a victim’s device to mine different cryptocurrencies. The report noted that the asset mainly mined through this cryptocurrency is Monero, Zcash and Ethereum.<\/p>\n The report noted that the number of attacks launched through this malware is high, with the projection estimated to be around 75% of the total revenues generated from crypto malware.<\/p>\n In 2020, Cisco’s cloud security division noted that 69% of its clients were victims of cryptojacking, showing that this form of malware had access to a high level of computing power used to mine large amounts of crypto. Chainalysisalso referred to another 2018 report by Palo Alto Network that indicated around $100 million worth of Monero was mined through cryptojacking.<\/p>\n <\/p>Cryptojacking on the rise<\/h2>\n