DeFi and cryptocurrencies are still attracting new consumers in the United States and other parts of the globe. Right now, BitCoin, Ethereum, and other blockchain tokens are still having their values rising and falling unpredictably.
A particpant checks a circuit board next to an oscilloscope on the first day of the 28th Chaos Communication Congress (28C3) - Behind Enemy Lines computer hacker conference on December 27, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The Chaos Computer Club is Europe's biggest network of computer hackers and its annual congress draws up to 3,000 participants.
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Despite this, many individuals, businesses, and other companies are still taking the risk to invest in their preferred crypto coins. However, security experts now warned that the rising markets of crypto and DeFi are making the U.S. the biggest ransomware target.
Chainalysis, a blockchain data platform that specifically helps cryptocurrency businesses, financial institutions, as well as government agencies engage in the rising block network, conducted a new study.
"North America is the second-largest cryptocurrency economy we study, having received over $750 billion in cryptocurrency between July 2021 and June 2020," said the blockchain data platform via its official blog post.
DeFi, Crypto Put US At Risk of More Ransomware Attacks?
Chainalysis' latest study revealed that North America is not the largest ransomware target. The platform explained that between June 2020 and July, the U.S. region's crypto transactions cover around 18.4% of the world's cryptocurrency activities.
A visual representation of the digital Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin alongside US Dollars on December 07, 2017 in London, England. Cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Lightcoin have seen unprecedented growth in 2017, despite remaining extremely volatile. While digital currencies across the board have divided opinion between financial institutions.
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However, this is also when North America was targeted by various hackers, who were allegedly linked to Russia. These ransomware groups include Phoenix Cryptolocker, Doppelpaymer, Netwalker, Egregor, and more.
Involved cybersecurity experts explained that North America is now the main target because it almost paid more than twice in cryptocurrency compared to consumers in Western Europe.
As of the moment, ransomware attackers are now expanding to target more countries. In other news, Australia now wants to collect data from compromised organizations as part of its anti-ransomware initiative.
On the other hand, Ukraine arrested the ransomware gang responsible for attacking hundreds of firms in North America and Europe.
Microsoft Windows Also in Trouble
According to National Cybersecurity Today's latest report, another ransomware study revealed that 95% of more than 80 million ransomware attacks are now aimed at Microsoft's Windows.
VirusTotal, a Google-owned database, is specifically the one that conducted the security research. Vicente Diaz, one of the leading researchers of VirusTotal, explained that the targeted Windows users are residing in China, Singapore, India, Kazakhstan, Iran, U.K., and the Philippines.
For more news updates about ransomware attacks and other international security threats, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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Written by: Griffin Davis
