Currency.com Evades Russian DDoS Cyber Attack

Key Insights:

• Currency.com evades Russian cyberattack on day of withdrawal from Russia.
• The crypto exchange announced a distributed denial of service (DDoS) that occurred on Tuesday, April 12.
• Russian and North Korean cybercriminals have been very successful in the crypto world.

Cybercriminal activity has risen sharply in recent years, as investor interest in the digital space grows.

The rise in criminal activity across the digital asset space and the Metaverse has been so significant that lawmakers have called for greater regulatory oversight.

This year, the U.S launched a new FBI crypto unit to tackle cybercrime, with UK politicians also calling on the government to impose stricter controls.

While cybercrime is a global phenomenon, North Korea and Russia have proven to be the most effective in recent years. For governments and exchanges, sanction on Russia, in response to the invasion of Ukraine, has raised the stakes.

Currency.com Discloses a Failed Russian DDoS Attack

On Sunday, Currency.com announced a failed cyber-attack.

The global crypto exchange ‘confirmed it was the target of a failed distributed “denial of service” (DDoS) cyber-attack.’

According to the announcement, the attack took place on Tuesday, 12 April. Currency.com added,

“The attack was unsuccessful and no customer accounts or data were compromised during the incident.”

On April 12, Currency.com announced that it was ceasing operations for residents in Russia, coinciding with the cyber-attack.

Currency.com founder, Viktor Prokopenya, said,

“Currency.com has identified security as a big concern for investors when choosing a trading platform. We are a global business whose executives have years of experience in creating transparent, secure, and powerful trading systems. Thanks to Currency.com’s robust security measures, we were able to thwart the attempted DDoS attack. All of our servers, systems, and client data remain intact and uncompromised.”

The announcement followed news from last week of the North Korean cybercriminal syndicate, the Lazarus Group’s involvement in the Axie Infinity hack. Known as the Ronin Hack, cybercriminals got away with $552m, the largest cyber-haul.

Russian Cybercriminals Are Amongst the Most Successful

In February, FX Empire reported on ransomware figures for 2021.

Ransomware payments hit $692m in 2020, an upward revision to a $350m estimate. Ransomware payments had stood at $152m in 2019 and just $39m in 2018.

Chainalysis tracked $602m in ransomware payments in 2021. Based on the 2020 revisions and latest numbers, the 2021 haul will likely exceed $1bn.

According to 2021 estimates, Russian-based Conti led the way, illicitly amassing at least $180m from ransomware victims, with DarkSide coming in a distant 2^nd, with less than $100m.

U.S President Joe Biden placed DarkSide in Russia. In May 2021, the U.S government accused DarkSide of a ransomware cyberattack on America’s Colonial Pipeline. The FBI paid a 75 BTC ransom before retrieving 63.7 BTC.