Crypto mining malware rose 71% in Q3 of 2018 alone, McAfee finds

The 2018 McAfee Labs Threat Report has shown a massive increase in crypto mining malware activity this year that is in the 4,000% region.

The report shows that the sharp rises began in the final quarter of 2017 through the first quarter of 2018. During the second quarter of the year, the figures dropped and then jumped again between the second and third quarter.

The figures have shown that crypto-criminals are now targeting miners with new cryptojacking malware. Criminals have been targeting those who use “routers or IoT devices such as IP cameras or video recorders as crypto miners” because they lack security and have weak CPUs.

McAfee also discussed a few examples of how crypto-criminals were exploiting the users of messenger services such as Telegram, Discord, and Slack to infect their computers with mining malware.

Some of the main topics covered in the December McAfee Labs Threat Report discuss the increase in underground forums where cybercriminals meet, therefore boosting their effectiveness. Other topics in the McAfee report include the continuing boom times for crypto mining, and how crypto espionage is at an all-time high.