Crypto mining attacks see 956 percent rise in first-half of this year!

According to IT security firm Trend Micro, malicious crypto mining attacks have increased by a whopping 956 percent from the first half of 2017 to the first half of 2018. Trend Micro's report was published after several instances of crypto jacking reported by various security researchers. Kaspersky announced that it had discovered a new form of crypto mining malware which specifically targeted corporate networks.

As reported by Coindesk, another crypto jacker was found, which used an exploit in the Drupal content management system. Trend Micro researchers have identified more than 787,000 cases of detecting malicious cryptocurrency mining software in the first half of 2018, and they include both legitimate mining tools and dedicated malware.

Besides these, 47 new cryptocurrency mining malware families were also found. Attackers concentrate on crypto jacking, or using businesses and other victims' computers to mine cryptocurrencies and is a concern for businesses. The threats have less visibility and likely to remain undetected.

Crypto jacking can potentially damage hardware, and lead to shortened lifespans for computers used in businesses and may interfere in network performance. The attacks may slow down users’ computers and affect the efficient performance of the machines.