Two reports published by Kaspersky revealed an increase in the number of malware incidents in the first quarter of this year, according to TechRepublic.
As the price of Bitcoin rose from late 2020 to April 15, Kaspersky also discovered a fourfold increase in the number of cryptomining attacks using modified malware during the same period, the first report stated.
“It’s too early to say for sure if the trend we’ve noted in Q1 2021 is here to stay. However, it does seem that the increase in the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency has sparked a renewed interest in miners. If the crypto markets remain strong this year, it’s likely we’ll continue to see more instances of users encountering miners,” said Evgeny Lopatin, a security expert at Kaspersky.
The second report found that while there was a drop in the number of financial malware installers detected, from 42,115 in Q1 2020 to 25,314 in Q1 2021, the Trojan-Gamethief mobile trojans jumped from personal computers to Android devices, a first for such devices, Kaspersky noted.
The Gamethief malware steals gaming app credentials and uses the billing information from the stolen account to make in-app purchases.
As the price of Bitcoin rose from late 2020 to April 15, Kaspersky also discovered a fourfold increase in the number of cryptomining attacks using modified malware during the same period, the first report stated.
“It’s too early to say for sure if the trend we’ve noted in Q1 2021 is here to stay. However, it does seem that the increase in the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency has sparked a renewed interest in miners. If the crypto markets remain strong this year, it’s likely we’ll continue to see more instances of users encountering miners,” said Evgeny Lopatin, a security expert at Kaspersky.
The second report found that while there was a drop in the number of financial malware installers detected, from 42,115 in Q1 2020 to 25,314 in Q1 2021, the Trojan-Gamethief mobile trojans jumped from personal computers to Android devices, a first for such devices, Kaspersky noted.
The Gamethief malware steals gaming app credentials and uses the billing information from the stolen account to make in-app purchases.
