Blockchain Security

Kaspersky Eyes to Tackle Crypto Crimes That Are Costing the Industry Billions

With the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies estimated to be more than US$200 billion, it’s evident to industry observers that the crypto industry has been rapidly on the rise in recent times.

Inevitably, with the rise, comes bad actors who see it as an opportunity profit from it in unscrupulous ways. In the first half of 2019 alone, criminals and fraudsters netted approximately US$4.26 billion, up from US$1.7 billion in all of 2018, according to CipherTrace’s Q2 2019 Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering (AML) report.

With cybercrimes and fraud rising alongside the industry, cybersecurity companies are eyeing to provide services to this fledgling industry, one such player is Kaspersky. They are looking to address the rising demand for tools and solutions to help business fence off criminals and fraudsters.

As early as April, Kaspersky announced the launch of new offerings designed to protect businesses working in the blockchain and crypto industry from cyberattacks and fraud.

Kaspersky’s Blockchain Security services provide ICO and STO projects and cryptocurrency exchanges with tailored services, such as smart contract code review, application and website security assessment, security awareness trainings, protection against phishing, penetration testing, incident response, and user account takeover prevention.

Even in South East Asia, Kaspersky is beginning to focus their efforts in marketing their cybersecurity offerings to the crypto industry. Speaking at Blockshow Asia 2019 earlier this month, Yeo Siang Tiong, GM, South East Asia, noted the importance of cybersecurity and its role in the advent of the crypto-economy, stating that a deeper focus on cybersecurity must be made in order for the industry to gain legitimacy.

Yeo Siang Tiong, General Manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky Labs, speaks at Blockshow Asia 2019

“While [blockchain’s] applications across multiple sectors such as financial services, agriculture, healthcare, real estate and utilities can create enormous opportunities for us, we need to pay careful attention on how to capitalize on them,” Yeo said.

“At the core of this digital revolution, it is worth remembering that blockchain is all about trust and this is especially relevant given that the industry is still nascent. Cybersecurity can play a key part in helping the industry build up credibility and trust, but we need to address these issues sooner rather than later as the frequency and sophistication of attacks on blockchain applications will intensify and become more advanced.”

Citing their own study, Yeo said that 19% of people that used cryptocurrencies have experienced hacking attacks on exchanges, says that this outlines an urgent need for crypto-business to be more proactive when it comes to cybersecurity

Image Credit: Kaspersky