How criminals get their hands on millions in crypto

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“With other types of malware, less sophisticated hackers can take a less expensive ‘spray-and-pray’ approach, spamming millions of potential victims and stealing smaller amounts from each individual tricked into downloading the malware. malware.”

The report describes four main examples of encryption-focused malware:

Information Thieves: The software collects saved credentials, files, auto-complete history, and crypto wallets from devices. Clippers: this can insert new text into a clipboard, replacing text that has been copied, for example replacing the cryptographic address a user can copy and inserting new one, redirecting a payment. Cryptojackers: this software uses the computing power of a compromised device to exploit cryptography. Trojans: A virus that can take control of a device, damage and steal information.

According to the report, cryptojacking is proliferating and accounts for around 73% of the total value received by these four types of malware.

Chainalysis research director Kimberly Grauer said the company expects cryptojacking to grow.

“The ease of carrying out a cryptojacking attack by simply buying the attack on the dark web now, malware-as-a-service, in combination with the fact that we’re going to hear more about it in the media…we expect only that the number of cryptojacking incidents will continue to be reported and increase,” Ms. Grauer said from New York on Friday.

She pointed to Glupteba’s withdrawal in December. Glupteba is a Russian-based, blockchain-based botnet used to target Windows devices.

Google’s Threat Analysis Group disrupted the botnet, which reportedly affected 1 million devices, increasing by thousands of new devices per day. Glupteba is known for cryptojacking and information theft.

“Criminals read ‘there was this giant Glupteba case. Oh, cryptojackers made hundreds of millions of dollars that year. So did ransomware,’ Ms Grauer said.

“Maybe there will be a sort of feedback circle that happened with ransomware when you ask a lot of cybersecurity professionals why is ransomware so attractive? They say ‘Well, you read online that you can make a lot of money with ransomware, and then you can just buy a kit on the dark net”.

The Chainalysis report includes a screenshot of an advertisement posted by information-stealing malware on a Russian dark web cybercrime forum.

The criminal group offers to sell a month’s access to Redline for $150 and a lifetime contract for $800. It also makes available a Telegram-based encryption tool to make it harder for antivirus software to be detected on a device.

“We called last year the year of ransomware…because we noticed more and more malware being sold on the dark web…people are expanding the repertoire of types of malware attacks, similar in a trajectory similar to ransomware – I think this is becoming a priority for us,” Ms. Grauer said.

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