Research: crypto ransomware programs are in high demand

Crypto extortion – the process of using spam attack armies of botnets to obtain ransom incryptocurrency for compromised information.

During the conference “Advance in FinancialTechnology ”, which was held this week in Zurich, an international team of researchers from the Austrian Institute of Technology and security provider GoSecure, noted an increase in cases of crypto-extortion.

Thus, researchers discovered that the popularThe Necurs botnet launched more than 80 campaigns, sending more than 4.3 million emails. Note that in most cases the criminals did not have incriminating information about the victims, but this did not stop them from extorting a ransom.

So, renting a botnet for $ 10,000 a month,extortionists earned at least $ 130,000. A spam campaign is incredibly simple compared to other schemes, largely due to the use of cryptocurrencies. Thus, researchers expect e-mail extortion cases to increase.

If you look at traditional spam, it's much more complex... crypto spam is much simpler, – said Paquet-Cluston of GoSecure.

The following is a sample email content:

Hello! As you may have noticed, I sent you an email from your account. This means that I have full access to your account. I've been watching you for several months now. The fact is that your device is infected with malware through the 18+ site you visit.

The amount of the ransom required ranged from $ 249 to $ 750.

According to the group, most often attackersaccept Bitcoin and Litecoin, while privacy-oriented coins such as monero and zcash are not in great demand.