It is likely that many of the readers of this note know someone or have lived the bitter experience of having been deceived, clicking on a link that enters a virus on their device or gives access to their portfolio of cryptocurrencies to lose your money forever.
It is a type of attack that, according to the most recent report by the cyber threat analysis firm PhishLabs, has targeted its claws towards users of cryptocurrency exchanges , with an average increase of 22% during the first half of 2021.
We talk about the techniques of phishing , a practice used to deceive victims with social engineering tactics. With this, they induce them to take actions that are then used against them, including clicking on deceptive links that provide hackers with confidential data.
The PhishLabs study, prepared with information collected during the second quarter of the year, ensures that the number of attacks of phishing to exchanges has multiplied by 10 so far in the 2021 .
Adds that for the second quarter of the year the number of attacks phishing to companies linked to the ecosystem rose by 13% in relation to those registered in the first three months of 2021.
Based on the following results, PhishLabs analysts predict that, in the next two quarters of the year, the cryptocurrency industry will continue to be aggressively attacked . Especially through social networks, as these platforms are one of the main means of interaction .
“With Bitcoin back above USD 45,000 , and the entire cryptocurrency market worth more than $ 2 trillion, we expect that we will continue to see a strong focus of hackers in this market in the third quarter, ”said John LaCour, founder and CTO of PhishLabs, in a webinar.
LaCour considers that the growth of the ecosystem – mate Rialized through new services and more users – is one of the main reasons hackers are increasingly targeting cryptocurrencies.
Social networks as a route for phishing
The study highlights social media platforms as the main attack vector . These virtual spaces are the preferred scenarios to carry out most of the activity aimed at deceiving users.
“Social networks are increasingly used for identity theft, fraud and other cyber threats ”, the study affirms.
Although the cryptocurrency sector is among those affected, the report assures that the increase in attacks Phishing in social networks has generally harmed almost all types of companies .
The targeting of threats to companies through social networks grew 47% in the first half of 2021 (…) At the beginning of 2021, the average number of attacks on companies was 34 per month, a number of which approached 50 at the end of June.
PhishLabs.
Deception tactic for phishing : spoofing
Deception tactics, used in more than 54% of attacks phishing detected in social networks , consist of a combination of techniques to spoof the identity of brands, executives and employees of the companies.
The data show that 47.5% of the attacks use the technique of spoofing the brand identity.
This is how hackers They use social networks to impersonate a certain exchange or recognized company. With this, they confuse customers with deceptive messages that lead them to click on malicious links, and even transfer cryptocurrencies with the false expectation of receiving profits .
About this type of deception, CriptoNoticias has made several cases public. Among the most named is the fraud called Giveaway, in which they have used the names of recognized figures and companies in the ecosystem, allowing thieves to get USD 10 million in 2020 alone.
The second type of attack most used by hackers starts from the substitution of the source code of a web page. This allows to make an identical copy of a site, adding information that redirects victims to malicious scripts .
According to PhishLabs, more than 39% of the attacks derive from copies of the source code .
This fraud strategy became evident with the leakage of user data from Ledger, a cool Bitcoin wallet. After the data from the marketing department was stolen in June 2020, the hackers copied the source code from the company’s official website, and later included the link of the fake site in a campaign of phishin g that lasted several months.
