Cryptojacking Incidents See Fourfold Increase in Europe and US

A new report from SonicWall found that cryptojacking incidents increased to 332 million compared to 67 million a year ago, targeting cloud and macOS devices.

About a quarter of the exploits occurred in January, February, April, and May of this year, and were led by North America and Europe.

Cryptojacking Threatens Cloud Equipment

While North America recorded the highest volumes, Europe saw the most dramatic increases in hacks.

Incidents in the US totaled 215 million, a 340% increase from a year ago, while exploits in Europe rose a staggering 788% to 88.3 million hits. The UK alone recorded a 479% spike, with incidents rising to 6.8 million from 1.2 million a year ago.

Cryptojacking refers to remotely hacking servers, mobile phones, and other information technology infrastructure to mine cryptocurrencies.

Instead of focusing only on hardware endpoints like smartphones, criminals attacked cloud services and cracked macOS applications seeded with HonkBox cryptojacking malware. Oracle’s WebLogic servers are the target of a new crypter, software that can encrypt malicious software.

The education sector recorded the biggest jump in incidents, up more than 320 times. Meanwhile, finance customers saw a 4.7x increase compared with a year ago.

Sanctioned Countries Likely Spearheading Attacks

Rather than waiting for one-time ransomware payments, hackers can invade other devices to sustain revenue streams covertly.

Mining bans in regions like Kuwait and China and countries facing heavy sanctions, such as Russia and North Korea, can encourage remote mining. North Korean hackers in particular have outsmarted seemingly-robust Western infrastructure to extort cryptocurrencies.

According to SonicWall, the 399% increase in cryptojacking has seen nation-states and threat actors amass greater volumes of Bitcoin. States cut-off from global financial rails can use these funds for controversial government programs like nuclear testing.

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