ESET: "Russia leads in the number of crimes related to cryptocurrencies" – Bits Media

According to ESET, working in the field of information security, in recent years, the number of threats related to cryptocurrencies has decreased by a quarter. but, the trend has not touched Russia.

According to ESET report, at the moment, every tenth case of attacks on cryptocurrency users occurred in Russia. Also in the top three for this indicator are Peru. (6.8%) and USA (5.3%).

"Total number of threats, associated with cryptocurrencies, for the period from May to August 2021 decreased by 23.6%. This is due to the fall of the cryptocurrency market. At the same time, in Russia there is a noticeable increase in the interest of cybercriminals in users of digital assets.”, - Analysts write.

Despite the overall decrease in the number of threats, fraudulent investment schemes have become even more popular. Cybercriminals often lure users, pretending to be celebrities or even government departments.

The popularity of virus miners actually decreased during the reporting period. The number of detections of such malware fell by 24.6%. Wherein 49.5% all threats, associated with cryptocurrencies, accounts for a virus called Win/CoinMiner.

“The number of cases of detection of such miners depends on the price of assets - the higher the price, the more attractive it is for hackers to launch malware. But for fraudsters and extortionists, prices on the market do not matter - in any case, criminal actions are extremely profitable for them.”, – noted the head of the ESET threat detection laboratory Jiri Kropach (Jiří Kropáč).

Chainalysis previously reported, that payments to hackers, using ransomware, constantly growing, and 2021 the year could easily exceed 2020 of the year.