*SonicWall’s fresh report has revealed cybercriminals have increasingly, been trying to break into the computer systems of financial institutions to install ransomware and mine for cryptocurrencies

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

A new report from SonicWall showed that cybercriminals have increasingly been trying to break into the computer systems of financial institutions to install ransomware and mine for cryptocurrencies.

This type of cyberattack, also known as “cryptojacking”, has increased exponentially in the first half of 2022, with attempts rising 30 percent year to date, agency report said.

Experts have disclosed that financial institutions saw a huge spike in these attacks, with attempts rising by 269 percent within the period.

It was gathered in cryptojacking attacks, criminals use malware to gain access to computer networks.

The cybercriminals then, use the system computing power to mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, in a process that typically requires investing in costly state-of-the-art equipment and consumes vast amounts of electricity.

However, the victim is often unaware of the intrusion.

Cryptojacking follows a pattern

While such an increase in cryptojacking activity is obviously concerning, it鈥檚 actually a lot better than it looked at the beginning of the year, according to report.

In January 2022, cryptojacking volume was said to have reached 18.4 million 鈥� a new monthly high that exceeded the previous record of 15.5 million March 2020.

Cryptojacking activity has cooled off a bit in recent months, but researchers cautioned that good news could be temporary.

SonicWall analysts said: 鈥淲hile falling cryptocurrency prices may have a lot to do with this, keep in mind that what we鈥檙e seeing follows a well-established pattern.

鈥淓very year since SonicWall began tracking cryptojacking, researchers have recorded significantly higher cryptojacking volumes in Q1 than in Q2, resulting in the 鈥渃ryptojacking summer slump.鈥�

While these scams may have subsided to some degree, consumers who work for companies that may be targeted by these schemes should remain wary.

Always be skeptical of e-mails or messages that contain potentially malicious links that could give hackers a way to infiltrate your device and your company’s network.

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