Hacking your computer, stealing your data, and following up with an exhausting ransom campaign has become too difficult for hackers. If they’re going to get malicious access to your PC, it’s much easier for them to discreetly use it’s resources for their own benefit. The outcome is far more lucrative, and an awful lot less work.
In this crypto-mining scenario, a hacker will use their usual schemes to get into your PC, be it via email scam, or advertisements containing hidden maware, anything to get you to click on something you shouldn’t. At ActiveCo our clients are protected through multiple layers of security. The risk remains, however, any PC is one click away from being infected with cryptocurrency mining malware … and if you’re a business owner, that means your resources are working hard to make money for someone else.
As seen below, ransomware is no longer where it’s at:
The chart above shows ransomware attacks in blue and “obfuscated” computers (taken over to mine for cryptocurrenty) in pink. Throughout the year, it’s clear to see the trend is moving away from ransomware attacks and migrating to “quietly taking over” PC’s.
An infected user may not be aware they had been hacked for quite some time because aside from your computer and applications slowing down, the impact would be no more than a slowly growing nuisance we’ve all become accustomed to (your PC performance going downhill).
What Can Be Done?
Prevention is key, although we may be broken record on this, it is imperative that user awareness is ingrained in your team’s mind. Every email, every link, every website should be a potential minefield for malware. If you feel your team may need a consistent awareness and training program on a monthly basis included in your IT services, you should contact us ASAP for a conversation.
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