In 2022, criminals were very active in stealing your crypto. Malware used to be the tool of choice for this. The amount they managed to steal fell sharply at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, perhaps because everything had already been tried. Unfortunately, hackers have found a new way. Attackers try you with two newe virussen forced to pay a ransom.
New viruses want your crypto
Cisco’s security company Talos warns in a blog post for a new kind of ransomware for desktop computers called MortalKombat. It has nothing to do with the video game. This time it also seems that there are not too complicated tactics used to make you unknowingly install the virus.
Instead, a phishingemail hooking you. It is not clear in what context the e-mail is placed. In any case, most of the victims are in the United States for now, while outside there are also a number of infections in the United Kingdom, Turkey and the Philippines. The attack is relatively easy to copy, so it could be that it will blow over to the Netherlands and Belgium. After all, malware also works abroad.
After clicking on the rogue email, the virus is implanted on your device. In addition to the MortalKombat virus, the attacker can opt for a new variant of the Laplas Clipper virus. The first version of this young virus was only discovered in November of 2022. MortalKombat is part of the Xorist family, which has been around since 2010.
Both viruses encrypt the data on your computer and ask you to buy software that allows you to crack the encryption of your files yourself. The attackers only give you the option to pay in bitcoin (BTC) if you are infected with MortalKombat. With Laplas Clipper you also have the option to pay with ethereum (ETH), solana (SOL) and other coins. The antivirus software MalwareBytes also recognizes the viruses.
Crypto hackers will earn less in 2023
Hacking was extremely lucrative for criminals last year. In addition to ransomware, there were many security problems with DeFi protocols, among others, which were widely abused. However, profitability has fallen sharply, in January even by 93% compared to January of 2022.
December was also bad luck for hackers. It was the worst month of all of 2022, as they only managed to capture $ 62 million. In January, the stolen amount was higher than in December, last month this amount was around $ 121 million.