Bitcoin Theft Is Likely To Surge In A Meagre Post COVID Economy

In modern times, cryptocurrency gained wide popularity being a digital currency. It’s just a digital asset that is not available in any physical form, whether bill or coin. Cryptocurrencies are available as an online asset. Without any interference or mediator like banks or financial institutions, you can easily transfer online cryptocurrency to anywhere in the world. Among the well-established and famous cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin enjoys a great share.

People might prefer relying on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins for easy payments and no additional charge on transactions. Many might show an interest in cryptocurrencies as a beneficial investment option as the price might rise in the future. It is easy to buy bitcoins either by your credit card or mining process.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins demand digital storage in the wallets available over the web on your device. With such a popular cryptocurrency, major attention is paid by the cyber criminals over it. In the meagre time of COVID-19 post economy, a lot of threat prevails around cryptocurrencies.

With the increasing cryptocurrency popularity, cybercriminals are keeping an eye upon bitcoins and taking the steps ahead. In the coronavirus hit economy, the major impact came over the economy. Continue reading ahead to learn about the Bitcoin theft in the post-COVID-19 economy.

Cyber threats towards cryptocurrencies

In the coming period, it might be a variant cryptocurrency that cybercriminals favour.

In the world fighting against COVID-19 post economy, a rise is likely to occur in the fraud or theft-related attempts on cryptocurrency as per the report by Kaspersky Lab (anti-virus and cybersecurity provider).

A cyber threat report published by SecureList (Research arm of Kaspersky’s cyberthreat) made a forecast regarding different attacks that might occur financially in the coming time of 2021.

With the COVID-19 pandemic situation, a prediction made by SecureList states that it might result in the poverty wave getting fuelled. Also, it can result in leading to a wider population adopting crime like cyber-attacks and other frauds. It might even portray towards an increasing rate of crimes involving cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Kaspersky’s research opinions

As per the research arm of Kaspersky, cryptocurrency like Bitcoin might turn out to be a lucrative option for the cybercriminals as the asset gains a lot of popularity in the market.

Within the COVID-19 pandemic period, several economies might seem to crash and face a major downtime. The COVID-19 post economy also resulted in plummeting of currencies, making Bitcoin an attractive asset among the cybercriminals.

Cyberthreats to Financial organizations report:

In the 2021 “Cyber threats to Financial organizations” study, authors concluded that fraud attempts might occur over Bitcoin.

SecureList team predicted that the Bitcoin crimes might not fall but tend to grow with the increasing crypto popularity. In the report, it suggested:

“Several economies might face a crashing phase wherein currencies might also result in plummeting, making Bitcoin an easy spot for theft and fraud cases. Mostly, crimes related to Bitcoin are likely to speed-up, since crypto enjoys well-famed popularity.”

As per the researchers from SecureList, a suggestion prevails that cybercriminals or the perpetrators online might look for further digital currencies or assets securing enhanced privacy such as Monera (XMR).  Another belief is that the cyber attackers might employ these beforehand like a transitional currency and transform all the funds in any other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins. As per the company, the reason behind this switch might be the rapid increase in technological features and capabilities to seize, monitor, and de-anonymize cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Further, the report also stated

“One should expect cyber attackers or online criminals to prefer transitional cryptocurrencies to impose an attack upon the victim. A reason also exists that shows cybercriminals switching to more advanced and in-depth privacy covered currencies like Monero. Using it as a transitional currency initially and then transforming all the funds into any preferable cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.

Cryptocurrency cyber crimes phase:

In 2020, several reports showed that crimes related to cryptocurrencies declined. Though, financing with the decentralized cryptos became a major hot spot for the cyber attackers. No doubt, cybercriminals are paying much attention over bitcoins for fraud or theft attempts. A sudden movement is likely to occur for the bitcoin theft in the post-COVID-19 economy.