In the last quarter of this year there has been a 98% rise in malware detected targeting Internet of Things devices, according to a new report by threat intelligence agency SonicWall. It comes as the number of never-before-seen malware variants also spiked, rising by 22% year-on-year. SonicWall says one of the biggest concerns for companies is the economically motivated attack, with ransomware groups holding out for millions in return for releasing stolen data – but with government agencies and professionals increasingly warning against paying ransoms, hackers are turning to cryptocurrency. The report revealed that there had been a 377% increase in cryptojacking attacks within the Europe and Asia region. This is where hackers hijack a device, from a desktop to IoT device with compute power, to mine for cryptocurrency. Hackers are increasingly chasing the money, according to SonicWall, with groups targeting banks and trading houses due to the likelihood of more powerful computers to run cryptojacking software. While Europe saw the largest spike in these attacks, numbers are up 35% globally year on year.
Full report : Hackers increasingly targeting Internet of Things devices.
