The number of financial malware attacks targeting crypto-currency, Bitcoin, increased more than 2.5 times and accounted for 8.3 million incidents in 2013.<\/p>\n
These were the findings from the \u2018Financial cyber threats in 2013\u2019 study carried out by a security solutions provider, Kaspersky Lab.<\/p>\n
Bitcoin was created especially for making anonymous e-payments and has become extremely popular over the last few years. In early 2013, the Bitcoin exchange rate was $13.6. By December it reached a record peak, exceeding $1,200.<\/p>\n
During the year several slumps occurred, but since April 2013 the price of a single virtual coin has not dropped below $80, Kaspersky Lab said.<\/p>\n
This inevitably attracted the attention of fraudsters, it said.<\/p>\n
Adding to the problem, Bitcoins are often easy prey for cybercriminals: if users store Bitcoins on their computers in an unencrypted form, attackers only need to steal the wallet file to get information about the \u201ccoins\u201d within and access the victim\u2019s account.<\/p>\n
More than 30 samples of finance-related malware were selected for Kaspersky Lab research. Nine of them were the programme designed to steal the crypto-currency. These nine represented a total of 29% of all financial cyber attacks performed using malicious applications.<\/p>\n
The tools used by cybercriminals to steal Bitcoins can be divided into two categories,\u00a0Kaspersky Lab said.<\/p>\n
The first category includes programmes created to steal wallet files. Applications in the second category are designed to install software for Bitcoin generation (“mining\u201d) on an infected computer.<\/p>\n
In absolute terms the Bitcoin wallet thieves performed twice as many attacks in 2013; however, the tools for “mining” developed more rapidly, the software firm said.<\/p>\n