Chainalysis reports rise in malware using blockchains for instructions

Blockchain-assisted cyberattack activity rose more than fivefold from last year, according to Chainalysis findings reported by Tom's Hardware. Attackers place malicious code or directions to their servers in blockchain transactions and smart contracts, where infected devices can retrieve them even if conventional hosting is taken down. Chainalysis tracked activity across five major blockchains and more than a dozen malware strains. It attributed much of the increase to North Korean and Iranian state-linked actors and Russian-speaking groups. The blockchain data can sustain an attacker's instructions, but malware still has to reach and run on a victim's device first.