Report: Despite Crypto Plunge, 'Cryptojacking' Amounts Rise 30% to Record High

Cryptojacking (cybersecurity) reached record levels in the first half of 2022 despite falling digital asset prices, new research suggests.

According to a mid-year cyber threat update report by US cybersecurity company SonicWall, in the first half of 2022, the amount of global cryptojacking increased by US$66.7 million year-on-year, an increase of 30%.

Cryptojacking is a cybercrime in which malicious actors seize a victim's computer resources by infecting their machines with malware designed to mine cryptocurrencies. It is often executed through vulnerabilities in web browsers and extensions.

Source: SonicWall

The report states that the overall rise in cryptojacking amounts can be attributed to several factors.

First, cybercriminals exploited Log4j vulnerabilities to deploy attacks in the cloud. In December 2021, a critical vulnerability affecting Java-based logging tools was discovered in an open-source library managed by software company Apache. Hackers can use it to gain remote access to the system.

Second, cryptojacking is a low-risk attack compared to ransomware attacks, which require disclosure to be successful. Victims of cryptojacking are often unaware that their computer or network has been compromised.

Be careful in the financial sector

During this period, attackers also appear to have changed their preferred targets, moving from government, healthcare and education to retail and financial industries.

During this period, cryptojacking attacks against the financial industry surged by 269%, more than five times that of the next highest industry, retail, which saw a 63% increase in attack volume.

"The financial sector was attacked five times more than the second-ranked retail sector, which used to be last on the list," the researchers noted.

However, the researchers noted that the number of cryptojacking attacks began to drop along with the crypto market as attacks became less profitable.

They observed a marked increase in attack volumes in the first quarter, followed by a "summer slump for cryptojacking" in the second quarter. Based on past trends, the attack volume may also be lower in the third quarter, but may increase again in the fourth quarter, the company said.

This summer's slump has also been attributed to a drop in crypto asset prices, which have seen the market shrink by 57% since the start of the year.