Ever since the popularity of cryptocurrencies has seen a tremendous jump in the financial market, the rate of crimes, frauds, and illicit activities concerning digital assets have also surged up at an equally fast pace. In a recent incident, the regulatory authorities held two Russian citizens under prosecution for attempting to sabotage the computer systems of state organizations with an aim to mine cryptocurrencies in a fraudulent manner.
The process of using a person’s computer system for mining cryptocurrencies without the consent or knowledge of the owner of the system is known as cryptojacking. The instances of cryptojacking have been on the rise all this while and the regulatory authorities have been constantly giving warning to the users act instantly even at the slightest fear of hacking threat.
According to the report published by local media portal Tass on December 16, the two anonymous intruders executed their malign plan by infecting the hardware of the system with a malicious program that uses a web browser to mine cryptocurrencies. Out of the two scammers, one designed the botnet to hack the computers around different regions of the country. The other suspect channelized his operations to mine crypto using the hardware at the state water utility JSC Rostovvodokanal.
Nikolay Murashov, the Deputy Director of Russia’s National Coordination Center for Computer Incidents, addressed a press conference and stated that “up to 80% of the computer’s free power can be used to generate virtual coins, and a legitimate user may not even know about it.” The spearhead warned organizations to maintain the highest standards of cybersecurity to avoid such intrusions by fraudsters who aim to crumble the operational capacities of the businesses.
This is not for the first time that Russia has been subjected to a cyber breach incident. In February 2018, the country’s security agents trapped a nuclear engineer’s group from a top-secret nuclear warhead platform who attempted to mine Bitcoin using the state’s most powerful supercomputer.
Russia is gearing up to bring legislation that would render the authorities to seize digital asset holdings during judicial proceedings. The initiative will help the authorities to eliminate hacking risks and fraudulent activities in the country.