It’s become a regular thing to hear about some sort of malware or cybersecurity threat making its way into the world’s financial landscape. And with a surge in interest around cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, Ripple, and Ethereum, hackers are finding new ways to gut financial institutions of their own funds.
Cryptojacking, a new infiltration method used by hackers to infect cryptocurrencies on infected websites, is on the rise, causing a stir among banks to guard their assets from bad actors and re-enforcing the need to invest in the right kind of coverage, including cyber liability insurance, which can protect a bank following a cyber threat.
Cryptocurrency Mining
Cryptocurrency mining is related to solving computationally intensive mathematical tasks. These are relevant in things like verifying the blockchain of transactions. Anyone who goes about mining for cryptocurrency leaves open the opportunity to get some cryptocurrency back, kind of like gold mining in the wildcatting days. Some of these miners hack into computer systems and install malware to get what they’re looking for.
Why is Cryptojacking Growing?
Cryptocurrency jumped onto the financial scene only a few years ago, but gained plenty of public interest when it became available to invest in. It’s based on the principle of supply and demand, and the fact that obtaining cryptocurrency is somewhat difficult only makes it more enticing as it’s looked at as a rewarding challenge. There are only a small number of Bitcoins that haven’t been mined, making it the digital age-equivalent of mining for gold out west, as mentioned above.
Cryptocurrency has fluctuated in value in the past few years, setting at less than one cent and hitting as high as $20,000 at the end of 2017. In the past year, some cryptocurrencies have leveled out around $6,700. According to Symantec, cryptojacking started soaring around the end of 2017 when Bitcoin topped out at its high point.
Cryptojacking offers miners an opportunity to make free money without having to exert a lot of effort. Criminals can easily log into someone else’s machine with simple lines of code and get what they need in a matter of moments.
Fighting Against Malware
There are some extensions out there that banks can use on company computers to block out mining effort, and cyber liability insurance policies can help to protect a bank following a threat, helping to make up for what has been lost. But beyond cyber liability insurance and browser-based protection, there are some more broad ways to address the problem with cryptojacking.
Simple steps, such as safe browsing, not installing questionable software, using anti-malware software, whitelisting executables on servers that have more computational resources, and patching up systems to close vulnerabilities are all good rules of thumb that banks can use to stave off these threats.
About Financial Guaranty Insurance Brokers
Since 1983, Financial Guaranty Insurance Brokers has distinguished itself as a provider of Professional Liability, Cyber Liability, and Crime insurance products for entities of all types. To receive timely, personalized service from a knowledgeable and experienced staff, call us today at (626) 793-3330 to speak with one of our professionals.