Interpol has taken charge to eradicate the growing cases of crypto-jacking, primarily targeted at wifi routers in Asia. The operation was headed by the Interpol's Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) in Singapore and was carried for five months in association with<a href="https://blog.trendmicro.com/interpol-collaboration-reduces-cryptojacking-by-78/"> TrendMicro</a>. The task operation was dubbed Goldfish Alpha which saw the Interpol work in coordination with national Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) and police from 10 different nations in Asia which included  Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The task force identified several routers which were affected by the crypto mining malware and later helped the victims to remove the malware. TrendMicro also revealed that they had prepared a document guide which contains the instructions on how to remove the malware from the affected routers and patch for the vulnerability as well.

The report suggested a total of 20,000 routers were found to be infected by the mining malware, and the combined operations of Interpol with local law enforcing agencies have been successful in eliminating vulnerabilities from 78% of the infected devices.
<h2>The Increasing Threat of Crypto Jacking Attacks</h2>
Crypto-jacking has become a growing concern in the decentralized space, as these crypto-jacking attacks are growing in sophistication and becoming increasingly difficult to detect. The crypto-jacking malware often targets vulnerable file systems which the ordinary public might not have knowledge about. Once the malware is lodged in the system, it uses the victim's computational resources to mine cryptocurrencies. Usually, privacy coins like Monero are mined through these attacks as they don't require as much of computational power as Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Recent security reports from<a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/crypto/crypto-mining-attacks-have-decereased-but-ransomware-attacks-in-trend/"> Kaspersky</a> and other research firms have indicated that crypto-jacking attacks have been on a decline and its ransomware that is on the rise. However, most of these ransomware malwares which are detected and eliminated often come back with a different name and much sophistication.

Interpol Takes Charge To Tackle Crypto Jackers Targeting Routers in Asia

Interpol has taken charge to eradicate the growing cases of crypto-jacking, primarily targeted at wifi routers in Asia affecting 20,000 of them.

An engineering graduate, Prashant focuses on UK and Indian markets. As a crypto-journalist, his interests lie in blockchain technology adoption across emerging economies.

Interpol Takes Charge To Tackle Crypto Jackers Targeting Routers in Asia

Top Picks