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Cryptojacking Incidents Increased by 400% in the First Half of 2023, According to SonicWall Report
Cybercriminals are increasingly shifting away from ransomware attacks and adopting a more discreet method of leveraging stolen computing resources for cryptocurrency mining. To enhance their chances of success, these malicious actors continuously modify their tools, tactics, and procedures, remaining flexible and elusive in their strategies.
As reported by SonicWall, the provider of cyberattack intelligence and ransomware statistics, incidents of cryptojacking are rising at an alarming rate. This trend coincides with a significant decrease in conventional ransomware attacks as companies decline to meet ransom demands.
Cryptojacking
Cryptojacking is a type of cybercrime in which offenders unlawfully utilize individuals’ devices, including computers, smartphones, tablets, and servers, for cryptocurrency mining. SonicWall’s recent analysis indicated that cryptojacking cases surged by nearly 400%, recording 332 million incidents in the first half of 2023, compared to just 66.7 million during the same period last year.
The increase in cryptojacking incidents was mainly driven by unprecedented figures in January, February, April, and May. In those months, the monthly totals exceeded 77 million occurrences, surpassing the combined totals for the first six months of 2022 and even exceeding the figures recorded for the entire years of 2018 or 2019.
SonicWall discovered that the overall number of cryptojacking incidents had exceeded 200 million and surpassed 300 million, achieving a new record that outstripped the total annual figures for 2020, 2021, and 2022 (all of which were record-setting years) combined by the end of June 2023.
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Demographic and Trends
In the United States, cryptojacking rose from 48 million to 211.7 million, marking a 340% increase year to date. Germany also experienced a significant rise, with a 139% increase from nearly three million to over 7 million. During the same timeframe, the UK saw a 479% increase, bringing the total number of cryptojacking incidents to 6.8 million, compared to 1.2 million last year.
In contrast, cryptojacking incidents in India dropped by nearly three-quarters, from four million to 1.1 million in the first half of 2023. Nevertheless, India remained among the Top 10 countries for cryptojacking attempts.
Criminals are increasingly targeting cloud services, compromised macOS applications, and Oracle WebLogic servers rather than concentrating solely on hardware endpoints like smartphones.
Additionally, the education sector experienced the most significant rise in incidents, with occurrences increasing by over 320 times, and the average percentage of customers targeted each month rising from 0.19% to 0.55%. Cryptojacking incidents in the finance sector also saw a 4.7x increase during the last six months compared to the same period a year prior.
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