Cryptojacking attacks grew by 8,500% in 2017 due to the sudden increase in cryptocurrency prices, making them a bigger threat than ransomware.
According to research by Symantec, the UK ranked as the fifth highest country globally in coinminer detections, with an impressive 44,000% increase.
With a simple coinminer and by exploiting a vulnerability or even tricking a user, a system's resources can be utilized up to 100%. This results in devices slowing down, overheating, and in some cases even shutting down. In practice, this means that damage can be caused to a business's network and its overall infrastructure.
Symantec also saw a 600% increase in overall attacks on IoT devices in 2017, meaning cybercriminals could exploit the connectivity of all these devices to mine cryptocurrency. “Attackers will be able to target their phone, computer or IoT device to make a profit. Users need to beef up their defenses or they’ll likely see someone else using their device,” said Darren Thomson, CTO at Symantec.
The annual report also showed that ransomware remained a threat in 2017, but there were fewer new ransomware attacks and lower ransom demands. The average ransom was $522.
As for threats to smartphones, they continue to increase and reach 54%. Symantec blocked an average of 24,000 malicious mobile applications every day in 2017, citing outdated Android versions as one of the main reasons for this number. We do not expect major changes this year, since third-party stores combined with old Android versions (in 2017 only 20% had the latest version) allow malware to spread.
