Bitcoin theft: Increase in cases possible after the corona crisis
Cyber criminals may initially prefer other cryptocurrencies in the coming months.
Cryptocurrency-related fraud and theft are likely to increase after the coronavirus crisis, according to a new report from cybersecurity and antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky’s cyber threat research arm, Securelist, published a report on Cyber Threats to Financial Organizations that predicts some specific types of financial attacks that are likely to increase in 2021.
Securelist predicts that the wave of poverty caused by Corona will inevitably lead to „more people resorting to crime, including cybercrime“. That could also mean an increase in bitcoin-related crime ( BTC ).
According to the Kaspersky Research Department, Bitcoin is likely the most attractive asset for cyber criminals because it is the most popular digital asset.
The report says:
„It could be that certain economies collapse and local currencies depreciate sharply. This makes Bitcoin theft much more attractive. We expect more scams, mainly related to BTC, as this cryptocurrency is the most popular.“
The Securelist researchers also suspect that online perpetrators could also target privacy coins such as Monero ( XMR ). According to the company, attacks on Monero could occur because there are more and more „technical possibilities for monitoring, de-anonymization and seizure of BTC“. In the post from Securelist it says:
“[…] We expect that cyber criminals will switch to transit cryptocurrencies to extort money from their victims. There is reason to believe that they could switch to other privacy-focused currencies like Monero in order to use it as a transition currency initially. These funds are then converted into another cryptocurrency of their choice, including BTC. „
As previously reported, there are currently fewer crypto crimes in 2020. Some other crypto sectors (like the DeFi area) have become new targets for criminal activity. According to a report by VPN company Atlas VPN, crypto and blockchain hacks are likely to continue to decline in 2021 .
