May 25, 2018 08:45 UTC
| Updated:
May 25, 2018 at 08:45 UTC
More Than 1.2 Billion In Crypto Has Been Stolen Since 2017
While the crypto fraternity blooms wth unprecedented growth, there is perhaps a dark side that’s still lurking on the edges. Apparently, cyber criminals have stolen a close to $1.2 billion in cryptocurrencies since the start of 2017. Owing to Bitcoin’s surging approval in the market and it’s acceptance by increasing number of people, over 1,500 digital tokens have been circulated on the unregulated sector. This was confirmed on Thursday by the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
This statistic come straight from the non-profit group’s analysis on cryptocurrency and include reported and unreported theft.
“One problem that we’re seeing in addition to the criminal activity like drug trafficking and money laundering using cryptocurrencies is the theft of these tokens by bad guys,” were the words of Dave Jevans, chairman of APWG and chief executive officer of cryptocurrency security firm CipherTrace.
Out of this grand chunk of money, Jevans believes that less than 20% could be recovered, with international law agencies trying their best to track down the culprits. This investigation will find a halt as the European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation takes effect on Friday.
Jevans believes, “GDPR will negatively impact the overall security of the internet and will also inadvertently aid cybercriminals. By restricting access to critical information, the new law will significantly hinder investigations into cybercrime, cryptocurrency theft, phishing, ransomware, malware, fraud and crypto-jacking.”
Dmitriy
Having majored in Social Psychology and Economics, I worked as a team lead of a tech and fundamental analysis lab in the Applied System Analysis Research Institute. I write financial articles for various international media. I also hold the position of a Chief Analyst at RoboForex.
