[h/t Sabrina] 2023 was a year of recovery for cryptocurrency, as the industry rebounded from the scandals, blowups, and price declines of 2022. With crypto assets rebounding and market activity growing over the course of 2023, many believe that crypto winter is ending, and a new growth phase may soon be upon us.

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But what did all of that mean for crypto crime? Let’s look at the high-level trends.Ransomware and darknet market activity on the rise

Ransomware and darknet markets, on the other hand, are two of the most prominent forms of crypto crime that saw revenues rise in 2023, in contrast with overall trends. The growth of ransomware revenue is disappointing following the sharp declines we covered last year, and suggests that perhaps ransomware attackers have adjusted to organizations’ cybersecurity improvements, a trend we first reported earlier this year.

Similarly, this year’s growth in darknet market revenue also comes after a 2022 decline in revenue. That decline was driven largely by the shutdown of Hydra, which was once the world’s most dominant market by far, capturing over 90% of all darknet market revenue at its peak. While no single market has yet emerged to take its place, the sector as a whole is rebounding, with total revenue climbing back towards its 2021 highs.

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Tags:

• CRYPTO CRIME REPORT
• CYBERCRIME
• DARKNET MARKETS
• RANSOMWARE
• SANCTIONS
• SCAMS

Cyberattacks on health care providers in the U.S. have gone up steadily over the last decade, exposing the personal health data of millions of patients.

By and large the hospital and clinics kept running, albeit with some tweaks.

“Early in the cyberattack, the first two days, we didn’t have a phone system because our phone is on the internet. We literally went to Best Buy and bought every walkie-talkie they had,” Leffler said.

Laws have also changed. In 2023, the Food and Drug Administration implemented a rule that says medical device manufacturers have to follow stricter guidelines on how to keep their products secure from hackers.

There have been so many ransomware attacks on hospitals that most are better prepared for them by now, said Pam Dixon, cybersecurity expert and founder of World Privacy Forum.

One report released in 2023 found that almost 60% of health care IT professionals say they restored their data from backups after a ransomware attack, without paying a ransom.

She said if hackers get one person’s medical data, they could use it for identity theft. If they get a lot of health care data, they could work with shady doctors to change someone’s medical record, so a patient now has an expensive disease like diabetes or hepatitis C. The shady doctor could tell an insurance provider that they treated the patient for this nonexistent condition.

In 2021, the exclusive Russian cybercrime forum Mazafaka was hacked. The leaked user database shows one of the forum’s founders was an attorney who advised Russia’s top hackers on the legal risks of their work, and what to do if they got caught. A review of this user’s hacker identities shows that during his time on the forums he served as an officer in the special forces of the GRU, the foreign military intelligence agency of the Russian Federation.Launched in 2001 under the tagline “Network terrorism,” Mazafaka would evolve into one of the most guarded Russian-language cybercrime communities. The forum’s member roster includes a Who’s Who of top Russian cybercriminals, and it featured sub-forums for a wide range of cybercrime specialities, including malware, spam, coding and identity theft.

Krebs on Security: “Google continues to struggle with cybercriminals running malicious ads on its search platform to trick people into downloading booby-trapped copies of popular free software applications. The malicious ads, which appear above organic search results and often precede links to legitimate sources of the same software, can make searching for software on Google a dicey affair. Google says keeping users safe is a top priority, and that the company has a team of thousands working around the clock to create and enforce their abuse policies. And by most accounts,…