BlackBerry identifies top crypto malware amid rising cyber threats

BlackBerry’s cybersecurity arm halted over 1.5 million cyberattacks between March and May, identifying malware families attempting to hijack computers for cryptocurrency mining or theft.

According to the BlackBerry report, cyberattacks most affected the finance, healthcare, and government industries. Researchers at BlackBerry uncovered RedLine, a commodity malware aiming to extract cryptocurrency and banking data, and Clop ransomware targeting banking and financial institutions, leading to a data breach at Hatch Bank.

The most prevalent malware families from BlackBerry include SmokeLoader, RaccoonStealer (also known as RecordBreaker), and Vidar. SmokeLoader, dating back to 2011, is one of the oldest rogue financial tools used by Russian-based threat actors to load crypto miners and other malware. In addition, cybercriminals allegedly used RaccoonStealer and Vidar to pilfer cryptocurrency wallet information and trade it on the dark web.

Hackers targeted Linux as the most vulnerable operating system. Thus, BlackBerry advised organizations to apply security patches regularly to safeguard their systems against hijacking and cryptocurrency mining.

Furthermore, a new info stealer strain called Atomic macOS emerged, primarily targeting macOS users to collect credentials from keychains, browsers, and crypto-wallets.

Meanwhile, OpenAI recently unveiled a significant initiative: a $1 million cybersecurity grant program. This program aims to evaluate the effectiveness of AI-powered cybersecurity technologies. 

OpenAI expressed their ambition to support the progress of AI-driven cybersecurity capabilities for defenders by providing grants and supplementary aid.