We already know that cryptomining is currently flavor of the month among malware creators, but a new report released today by
Malwarebytes puts some startling figures on the problem.
On consumer systems cryptomining detections were up a massive 4,000 percent in the last quarter, while ransomware detections fell 35 percent over the same period. For businesses cryptomining detections rose 27 percent this quarter and ransomware detections 28 percent. However, Spyware is still the cybercriminals' favourite choice, with over 80,000 detections in January alone.
"The main focus here is that criminals have moved towards cryptomining and drive-by mining in lieu of pushing out ransomware or spyware or adware," says Adam Kujawa, head of malware intelligence at Malwarebytes. "We've seen crypto mining increase 27 percent is businesses this quarter, as well as nearly 40 times more detections for Android miners. In March we saw 1,000 detections of miners for Macs."
