Security News > 2021 > July > Bitcoin cyber attacks surge following rising demand and increasing price of bitcoin

Phishing impersonations and business email compromise attacks designed to steal victims' bitcoin surged by 192% between October 2020 and May 2021, closely following the rising demand and increasing price of bitcoin over the last eight months, according to analysis by Barracuda Networks.

Bitcoin themed cyber attacks have typically been used in extortion and ransomware attacks in the past, but hackers have now started to incorporate cryptocurrency into spear phishing, impersonation, and BEC attacks, the analysis revealed.

What's more, cryptocurrency payments are decentralised and unregulated, giving cyber criminals the means to extort victims' bitcoin whilst remaining completely anonymous.

Most commonly used key phrases in bitcoin cyber attacks.

The most commonly used key phrases in bitcoin-inspired email attacks were identified - typically, cybercriminals will create a sense of urgency, with the phrases 'urgently today', 'day runs' and 'nearest bitcoin machine' coming out on top, followed by terms that play on victims' sentiment, such as 'charity donation'.

"Fleming Shi, CTO for Barracuda Networks comments:"Accelerating interest and demand for bitcoin has provided cyber criminals with a payments method which is virtually untraceable, enabling a multi-billion pound economy of ransomware, cyber-extortion and impersonation attacks, primarily targeting individual investors and private companies.

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