Cyber Crime Trends 2021: Bitcoin Theft to E-Commerce Data

Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky predicts theft of bitcoin and e-commerce data will still be rampant in the next year, while the spread of malicious software such as ransomware is predicted to become more widespread.
This year, the Twitter accounts of Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Elon Musk to Kim Kardashian were hacked and uploaded a tweet asking (followers) to send bitcoins. Hackers (hackers) reportedly made US $ 280 thousand from fraud with this scheme.
Kaspersky security researcher Dmitry Bestuzhev predicts that such cybercrime will continue in the next year. In addition, direct breaches of bitcoin accounts are predicted to be rampant this year (2021). “This is a new strategy,” he was quoted as saying in a press release, Tuesday (22/12).
This is because the price of bitcoin continues to soar. According to market data provider Coin Metric reports, the price has risen by more than 200% since the start of the year. The price of the digital currency (cryptocurrency) surpassed a record in December 2017 to touch US $ 23,653 per coin in late trading (18/12).
Apart from the fact that the price continues to soar, bitcoin is starting to be of interest to large companies such as Fidelity Investments and Square. PayPal even plans to adopt this cryptocurrency in its subsidiary business, Venmo. Based on Bloomberg data, PayPal has more than 346 million active users. As many as 26 million of them are online merchants. This allows hackers to target more potential victims.
The second trend, MageCarting or commonly known as JS-skimming by stealing payment card data from e-commerce platforms. Since 2019,
In Indonesia, data theft is rampant, namely by tricking consumers or known as social engineering or entering into client accounts. Kaspersky predicts that the perpetrator will focus on stealing data directly from the server.
The third trend, criminals rely on the ability to monitor, delete usernames, and confiscate accounts of transitional currencies such as bitcoin. To do this, the perpetrator breaks into financial accounts and then converts them to crypto currency to cover their tracks.
The fourth trend is the increasing attempts of extortion by spreading ransomware. Kaspersky researchers predict that the perpetrators are expanding their targets with card skimming methods and ransomware, including banks. Finally, a zero-day exploit used by ransomware distribution groups. This method is costly. However, the success rate of breaking into it was quite high.
Verizon’s annual Investigation Report says the majority of cyberattacks are aimed at stealing money. Other motivations include espionage, stealing ideology, intellectual property, or trade secrets.
A Verizon report in 2019 also showed that cyber breaches for financial gain rose to 86% from 71% a year earlier. The majority of crimes are committed by organized criminal gangs. The research analyzed 32,002 security incidents and 3,905 breaches reported by 81 organizations from various industries around the world. “Most of these violations involve people who want to steal money,” said Global Verizon Business Group President Sowmyanarayan Sampath.
Dmitry said the threat of cyber attacks on the financial sector was among the most dangerous. He appealed to individuals and organizations to take mitigation efforts. “Estimating the potential future threats is important, because it allows individuals or organizations to prepare themselves in the future,” he said. Apart from being dangerous, cyberattacks with a motive of financial gain are the most common.