Government Aided Attacks on Cryptocurrency Industry to Surge in 2022

The cryptocurrency sector will continue to be targeted by state-sponsored organizations in 2022, as per a forecast published by cybersecurity company Kaspersky. These types of cyber-attacks are distinct from other types of cyber-attacks. In these, the user is considered to be the target of a hostile state or, more often, the victim’s nation-state, since they are viewed as a danger to the state.

Researchers from Kaspersky Labs have discovered that state-sponsored organizations have begun to attack the crypto business. “We have already seen APT organizations rise up to launch aggressive attacks against the crypto industry, and we believe that this activity will continue,” the paper said.

It should be emphasized that, although cryptocurrency has been outlawed in certain jurisdictions, it has gained official recognition and approval in other areas of the world. Not only that, but it’s not just about El Salvador. Consider the case of the Mayor of Miami, who proclaimed on Twitter that the city intends to begin rewarding citizens who utilize cryptocurrencies, and who also said that he would earn his whole salary in Bitcoin.

According to Kaspersky, those who believe it is unsafe to invest in cryptocurrencies are also the individuals who understand that their cryptocurrency wallet is the most vulnerable to cyber-attacks, according to the company.

Digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin are held in something known as a ‘wallet,’ which may be accessed by entering your ‘private key,’ which is the crypto equivalent of a super-secure password, and without which the cryptocurrency owner would be unable to access their cash.

According to the paper, crypto hardware-based dangers include flaws in security and the use of bogus hardware wallets to steal cryptocurrency. This comes as fraudsters continue to develop new methods of stealing financial assets from investors, with cryptocurrency assaults becoming more focused.

“Cybercriminals will take advantage of the production and selling of rogue tools with backdoors, followed by social engineering campaigns and other ways to steal victims’ financial assets (cryptocurrency),” the Kaspersky researchers concluded.

According to Dmitry Bestuzhev, head of Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) in Latin America, “this year has been challenging for many organizations, including managing remote access for ad-hoc employees, patching hard systems connected to the Internet to withstand ransomware attacks, and dealing with a significant increase in mobile banking and its malware implants.”

Furthermore, according to the survey, cyber thieves would use simple approaches in order to get sensitive information from a hacked system. In addition, experts predict that worldwide financial assaults will increase in 2022. The use of a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) is one method of compromising a system. A RAT is a tool used by cybercriminals to get complete access and remote control over a user’s system. This includes mouse control and keyboard control as well as file and network resource access.

“Moreover, fraudsters have not shied away from exploiting market instabilities. We’ve seen hackers from very specific geographic areas expand their operations to other parts of the globe, making cybersecurity professionals’ jobs more difficult. Because of this, it is important to determine the primary leaning in a changing landscape of financial dangers and to share our experience in order to assist companies in being prepared so that they understand how to defend themselves from the threats listed above,” Bestuzhev said.