Bitcoin theft is likely to surge in meager post-COVID economy: report

Cybercriminals may favor a different cryptocurrency in the coming months, however.

Cryptocurrency-related fraud and theft are likely to grow in the post-COVID-19 world, according to a new report by cybersecurity and anti-virus provider, Kaspersky Lab.

Securelist, Kaspersky’s cyberthreat research arm, published a report on cyberthreats to financial organizations, forecasting some specific types of financial attacks that are likely to surge in 2021.

Securelist has predicted that a wave of poverty fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic will inevitably lead to “more people resorting to crime including cybercrime.” That could also mean a rise in crimes related to Bitcoin (BTC).

According to Kaspersky’s research arm, Bitcoin is likely to be the most attractive asset for cybercrime because it is the most popular digital asset. The report reads:

“We might see certain economies crashing and local currencies plummeting, which would make Bitcoin theft a lot more attractive. We should expect more fraud, targeting mostly BTC, due to this cryptocurrency being the most popular one.”

Securelist’s researchers also suggested that online perpetrators could switch to more privacy-focused digital assets like Monero (XMR). According to the company, this switch would happen due to increasing “technical capabilities of monitoring, deanonymization and seizing of BTC.” Securelist’s post reads:

“ [...] We should expect cybercriminals to switch to transit cryptocurrencies for charging victims. There is a reason to believe they might switch to other privacy-enhanced currencies, such as Monero, to use these first as a transition currency and then convert the funds to any other cryptocurrency of choice including BTC.”

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, crypto-related crimes slowed significantly in 2020, though some crypto sectors (like DeFi) have become new hotbeds for criminal activity. According to a report by VPN firm Atlas VPN, crypto and blockchain-related hacks are likely to continue declining in 2021.

from https://ift.tt/2JxYK7y
https://ift.tt/3o1KR0C

Comments

ENS DAO delegates offer perspective on DAO governance and decentralized identity

AlphaWallet CEO and Spruce co-founder talk about their roles as contributors to the Ethereum Name Service following the project's recent airdrop. Earlier this month, the Ethereum Name Service, or ENS, formed a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, for the ENS community. Cointelegraph spoke to two ENS DAO delegates who applied for the opportunity to represent the community and stay involved in the decision making process: Victor Zhang, CEO of AlphaWallet, an open source Ethereum wallet, and Gregory Rocco, co-founder of Spruce, a decentralized ID and data toolkit for developers. Zhang spoke about his experience as an external contributor to ENS and an early supporter since 2018. Zhang initially sought to help ENS by offering Alpha Wallet as a user-friendly tool for resolving .eth names and cryptocurrency wallet addresses. Essentially, if a user inputs an .eth name in the AlphaWallet, it will show the wallet address, and vice versa using reverse resolution. Alpha...

How Social Platform Chingari is Using Web 3.0 to Transform the Traditional Way We Use Social Media

The world is changing. This isn’t news to anyone, but sometimes it is nice to realize that—contrary to news headlines—not all the change is bad. In fact, the last decade has seen so much innovation and so many improvements to technology that even 2015 seems like a different world. Internet speeds, connecting with anyone globally (for free), and our ability to reach large groups of people without a middleman is nothing short of revolutionary. When it comes to technology evolution, this often happens with different iterations. Once a system is mature, there’s a better idea of what we would like to change and improve. We go back to the drawing board, target our creative minds at the issues, and create a new version that has evolved to better meet our needs. The Internet has followed this model since its inception, evolving through three distinct stages. We are only at the cusp of the third stage, called Web 3.0, with technologies such as blockchain and ...

Osprey sues Grayscale for misrepresenting likelihood of GBTC ETF approval

Osprey alleges its only competitor on the BTC OTC trust asset market gained its 99.5% market share by misrepresenting the likelihood of its trust becoming an ETF. Digital asset manager Osprey Funds filed suit against Grayscale Investments in Connecticut Superior Court on Jan. 30, alleging violation of the state’s Unfair Trade Practices Act. The suit concerns Grayscale advertising and promotion of the Bitcoin ( BTC ) exchange-traded fund (ETF) it is seeking to create. Osprey stated in the suit that it is the only competitor to Grayscale on the over-the-counter traded Bitcoin trust asset management market, and Grayscale maintained its leading position through deceit: “Only because of its false and misleading advertising and promotion has Grayscale been able to maintain to date approximately 99.5% market share in a two-participant market despite charging more than four times the asset management fee that Osprey charges for its services.” Specifically, Osprey alleged that Graysc...

Crypto Coin Search

Search This Blog