Litecoin wallet data

There were nearly 6 million detections of malware capable of stealing data from bitcoin wallets in 2013, according to a new report released by cybersecurity firm Kapersky Labs.

Entitled “Financial Cyberthreats in 2013″, Kapersky’s report looked more broadly at a range of cyberattacks – from phishing to mobile malware, but put a special emphasis on examining how digital currency wallet users are being targeted by criminals online.

Perhaps most notably, Kapersky found that 1 million wallet owners fell victim to a malware attack in 2013, up from less than 600, 000 in 2012. Attacks on digital currency wallets constituted roughly 20% of all attacks that involved financial malware last year.

Read the report:

“Among all finance-related malware, tools associated with bitcoin demonstrated the most dynamic development.”

The full, 35-page report provided additional information on malware that targets wallet data, as well as programs that secretly upload mining software to the victim’s computer.

The report draws on information collected from Kapersky’s global security infrastructure.

Attack figures rise with bitcoin’s price

The amount of detections for wallet-targeting malware programs rose significantly in 2013 compared to 2012 levels, when according to Kapersky, less than 2 million detections were registered. This figure includes all observed attacks, including those that were not successful.

Kapersky reported a more modest increase in the amount of malware attacks that uploaded mining software to affected computers, rising from roughly 500, 000 in 2012 to more than 2 million in 2013.

Almost 800, 000 users encountered mining malware attack in 2013, compared to less than 200, 000 the year before. Overall, mining malware attempts accounted for 8.9% of all detections.