Bitcoins: Extortion and theft will increase in 2021

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“Kaspersky experts analyze and conclude what cybercrime has in store for the next 12 months in a new report on the threat landscape for the financial sector.”



In 2021, many cybercriminals focused on financial activities are likely to target Bitcoin, while other groups will shift to transitional cryptocurrencies as they demand payment from victims of uk mobile database to improve their privacy. Additionally, extortion practices will become even more common, whether as part of DDoS or ransomware attacks, with ransomware operators consolidating and using advanced exploits to infect victims. Here are our top predictions for how the threat landscape for the financial sector will change.

Financial cyberthreats are among the most dangerous, as they directly imply losses for victims. It is inevitable that the drastic changes that occurred in 2020 have influenced the way cybercriminals operate. Here is a summary of the main predictions:

MageCarting , also known as JS-skimming , will move to 100% server-side operations. There are indications that fewer and fewer groups are using JavaScript to collect credit card data. We expect that by next year, these attacks will be executed entirely on the server side of the e-commerce site to avoid fraud detection.
Transition currencies . With the creation of special resources to monitor and seize Bitcoin accounts, cybercriminals are likely to change the way cryptocurrency payments are made – prioritizing coins that allow for an erasure and increase privacy, such as Monero, as a way to cover up the extortion trail. These criminals will then convert their funds to more popular cryptocurrencies.
Increased extortion . Due to the success of their operations and the widespread media coverage this year, targeted ransomware groups have systematically increased the ransom amounts they demand from victims to prevent their information from being published. In addition, we expect extortion attempts to increase even further. Organizations are in the spotlight. With more targeted ransomware or DDoS attacks – or both – organizations could be further impacted by data loss and exhaustive recovery processes.
Unknown (0-day) exploits used by ransomware groups. Furthermore, these groups, which have managed to accumulate financial resources due to the numerous successful attacks in 2020, will begin to exploit unknown (0-day) vulnerabilities and use “N-day” exploits to expand and increase the effectiveness of their attacks. Although purchasing exploits is an expensive undertaking, some ransomware operators now have sufficient funds to invest, considering the amounts they have obtained from their victims.
Bitcoin theft will become more attractive as many nations plunge into poverty due to the pandemic. With the economic impacts and the devaluation of local currencies, more people may become involved in cybercrime, resulting in more attacks. We expect that due to the weakness of local currencies, more people will turn to Bitcoin fraud, in addition to Bitcoin theft itself – the most common form of cryptocurrency theft.
“This year was significantly different, and yet many of the trends we predicted have come true. These include new financial cybercrime strategies, from reselling banking access to targeting investment apps, as well as the further development of existing trends, such as the further expansion of card data collection and the use of ransomware targeting banks. Predicting future threats is important because it allows us to better prepare for our defenses, and we are confident that our forecast will help many cybersecurity professionals work on their cybersecurity models,” said Dmitry Bestuzhev, Director of the Latin American Research and Analysis Team at Kaspersky.