According to Cybersecurity Carbon Black report, $1.1 Billion in cryptocurrency has been stolen in the first half of 2018. The crypto crime report shows that it is very simple to steal the cryptocurrency.
Crypto Crime Report
The company notes that criminals use the opportunities of dark web for large-scale thefts of cryptocurrency. The main advantage of dark web for cyber-frauds is anonymity. There are 12 thousand trading platforms that hackers can use.
Carbon Black Security strategist Rick McElroy said in his interview with CNBC:
“It’s surprising just how easy it is without any tech skill to commit cybercrimes like ransomware. It’s not always these large nefarious groups, it’s in anybody’s hands.”
He also noted that the price of malicious software starts from $ 1 and is on average $ 224. Such software solutions often have even their own support service. The volume of the malware market is about $ 6.7 million.
The report claims that usually organized criminal groups commit thefts. However, over and over again cyber thieves are highly skilled professionals who are looking for a source of additional income, working alone.
“You have nations that are teaching coding, but there’s no jobs. It could just be two people in Romania needing to pay rent.”
According to the crypto crime study, the most popular target for cybercriminals this year were cryptocurrency exchanges. Attacks on exchanges represent 27% of the overall number of attacks.
The most frequent target of scammers are Bitcoins – 10%, Ethereum – 11%, and Monero – 44%. The biggest number of incidents related to stealing cryptocurrencies has happened in the USA (24), China (10) and Great Britain (8).
Crypto Holders Do Not Have Institutional Support
In addition, according to the expert, in the conditions of the new cryptocurrency economy, the owners themselves are responsible for the safety of their funds. He believes that there are many naive investors who do not know that there are no banks and other institutions in cryptocurrency industry that would ensure the safety of their crypto assets. Do not forget about monetary funds insurance, as well as government support. In the case of cryptocurrency, crypto holders do not get any support, and they have no one to rely on. Investors should worry about this.
Rick McElroy said:
“Usually we rely on banks, the tools are out there but investors need to know how to do this. A lot of people are unaware in this new gold rush, people are using cloud wallets and not securing their money.”
