Survey Reveals 87% of IT Professionals Are Concerned With Cryptojacking

Singapore-based unicorn startup Acronis released its latest cybersecurity survey on March 31 today, highlighting that 86% of IT professionals are concerned about cryptojacking.

According to the 2020 World Cyber Protection Week Survey, there is a growing fear among IT experts in the face of cryptojacking attacks, as the study shows that 30% of personal users and 13% of professional users wouldn't know if their data or computer's resources were modified unexpectedly, as such threat does.

The report also stresses that awareness and concerns about cyber-threatening methods like cryptojacking have been increasing in the last two years, surging by 33% since 2019.

There is also a growing fear among IT experts in the face of ransomware attacks. In fact, 88% of those surveyed said they were concerned about this modality, surpassing cryptojacking by only 2 percentage points.

Cryptojacking definition

Cryptojacking is the unauthorized use of a third-party device to mine cryptocurrencies. It can be a computer, smartphone, or a complete network of equipment.

Cryptojacking can break the security of a computer in two ways: introducing malware by installing suspicious applications or from websites that use the device's resources without the user's consent.

Peak volume of coronavirus-related scams in Asia

In general terms, the survey highlighted a peaking volume of COVID-19 related cyber scams in Asia during the last two weeks, with Singapore being the most affected country on the continent.

To keep safe, Acronis recommended always creating backups of valuable data, ensuring that operating systems and applications are updated and being aware of suspicious emails or websites.

Is cryptojacking technically extinct?

Contrary to what Acronis’ survey found, Cointelegraph reported last year that MalwareBytes considers cryptojacking against consumers “essentially extinct.”