BullGuard Blog

Cyber crooks have taken to crypto-jacking with great enthusiasm. It is the art, or rather dark deed, of hijacking a computer’s processing power and redirecting it to mine for cryptocurrencies.  And mining for cryptocurrencies can be a lucrative business.

In March 2018 the leader of a notorious hacking gang, Carbanak, was arrested in Spain by Europol. A few months’ later police arrested three more members. The authorities thought they had finally smashed a notorious hacker gang responsible for stealing upwards of $1 billion from banks across the world.

Full marks to the Dutch Data Protection Authority for reporting itself to itself after making a classic data boob. It spilled personal details and in the process breached the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

Data collection at its core is not malicious. Websites need data to make their products better and to sell you the advertisements that keep them afloat. Social media uses your data to sell ads to make money. At one level it makes sense. It is used to recognize who you are and provide targeted advertising.