Cryptocurrencies have become the hub of cybercriminals. As it is a relatively new concept for many people, fraudsters take advantage of this.
In the initial years, some of the fraud cases like Mt. Gox, Silk Road, and many other scams have set fear in people’s minds.
Moreover, these cybercriminals are targeting bitcoin because it is the most valued cryptocurrency. In this article, you will understand why they are targeting bitcoin transactions in 2020.
Why is Bitcoin the Target of Cyber Criminals in 2020?
Although cybercriminals attack different cryptocurrencies, they are targeting bitcoin. There are four major reasons behind it.
- Bitcoin is the most popular and traded in high volume.
- Bitcoin value is expected to grow, and in fact, it is rising.
- Most people are using bitcoin mobile apps.
- The majority of the investors are not aware of the risks.
There are several other reasons, but here I have explained these major reasons.
Bitcoin is the most popular and traded in high volume
The first and foremost reason is bitcoin is the most popular digital coin. Some people even don’t know that there are other digital coins. So, whoever enters the crypto starts with bitcoin, and they are not aware of the risks (related scams) initially. You can invest in bitcoins using 1k daily profit
As the price of bitcoin has started rising significantly in 2017, more people have joined the crypto space to invest in bitcoin. The majority of the people invested in bitcoin even without understanding it.
Due to these factors, the volume of trading bitcoin is the highest among other crypto coins. So hackers are taking advantage of this to steal money from those people.
Bitcoin value is expected to grow, and in fact, it’s growing
It’s no wonder when the value of anything grows, and criminals target those things. As the value of bitcoin is the highest among all other cryptocurrencies, cybercriminals are targeting bitcoin.
Moreover, the value of bitcoin is expected to grow significantly in the future, and in fact, it’s growing. This is a major factor that hackers are targeting bitcoin.
When the value rises, the criminals have the opportunity to get a higher amount. So they try different methods to steal bitcoin from victims.
At the time of writing this article, the value of one-unit bitcoin is around $11,400. So imagine, if the hackers are able to steal one unit bitcoin then how much money they get.
Most people are using bitcoin mobile apps
The majority of the people who own bitcoin, store their bitcoin in a mobile wallet. Further, they are using different bitcoin mobile apps such as price trackers, news apps, and train apps for getting involved in bitcoin.
However, they are not aware of the risk associated with these mobile apps. A recent study by High-Tech security revealed that most of the bitcoin mobile apps (specifically android apps) are not safe. Bitcoin android apps are vulnerable to attacks.
On top of that, those who don’t have much understanding of the risks involved illegitimate download apps. And hackers take advantage of this by creating fake apps in the play store.
The majority of the investors are now aware of the risks
Above all, the majority of the people who are involved in trading bitcoin or simply using bitcoin for their day to day expenses are not aware of the risks.
So, people who are not aware of the risks trust anything from anyone, and they perform the activity. As a result, they become victims of cybercriminals. Hackers even try to contact bitcoin users through email to instruct them to download something to target their wallets.
Closing Thoughts
Cybercriminals are targeting bitcoin transactions for all of the above reasons. So if you want to get into bitcoin trading or just to use bitcoin, take the necessary safety precautions to avoid such risks.
Never use any illegitimate apps from the play store, always do background research before using them. Hopefully, the above information has helped you to understand why hackers are targeting bitcoin.
