Cisco officials discuss cryptocurrency thefts at Black Hat conference, Las Vegas

On 8th August, the Black Hat USA 2018 conference was held in Las Vegas. A large number research scientists and cybersecurity experts from various parts of the world took part in the event. The conference attracted nearly 17,000 individuals, which was held for a period of six days.

Cisco Systems is one among the 300 cyber-security companies who attended the Black Hat conference. They believe that as more cryptocurrencies are being developed, there are more chances for cybercriminals to hack the network and misuse data.

It was revealed at the conference that hackers prefer two ways of cybercrime:

Another preferred and recent form of cybercrime is the use of Ransomware, a malicious software that disables a system’s function and prevents the individual from using their computer until a specified ransom is paid.

Cisco’s research analysts explain that all efforts taken by the company to improve their network security measures and upgrading their defenses have proven to be in vain as hackers are developing better ways to attack crypto-riches.

They also mentioned that hackers are making use of Google Ads. The users are tricked into various phishing sites, which look similar to crypto-exchange sites like Binance.com or Block.info and get access to all the personal information disclosed by the users.

Amongst others, start-ups and other smaller albeit growing companies fall prey to these cybercriminals because of their insufficient resources to have a stronger defense network.

Reports also state that a downward movement in the market would encourage phishing activities and the most prominent cryptocurrencies at risk are the Altcoins, due to their lower market ranks.

Cryptocurrency hackers also influence the markets through a pump and dump, where they increase the price of a coin significantly for a short duration and exchange their coin for a better or another well-known cryptocurrency before the market collapses.