Cryptocurrency forecast in 2020

Cryptography is the cornerstone of information security, but not everything is fully secure in the world of cryptocurrencies. Crypto transactions are still subject to fairly regular attacks and hacks, while cryptocurrencies face - albeit rarely - the 51% attack .

How will this change in 2020 and over the next decade? Well, as cryptocurrencies grow and spread, it is almost inevitable that attempts by cybercriminals will develop in parallel to capture a piece of the pie.

As many experts have shared at Cryptonews.com, it is likely that attacks (or attempted attacks) against trading platforms will increase in 2020 and that the mining reward of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) will be halved. ) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) (halving) could make these altcoins more vulnerable to attack by 51%.

Retrospective on 2019

How accurate were last year's security forecasts from Cryptonews.com? The main predictions made by the experts focused on the growth of encryption malware targeting the Internet of Things (IoT devices).

Raj Samani , McAfee's chief scientific expert, suggested that such cases would escalate given the increasing number of unsecured IoT devices in homes and businesses.

And he was largely right, at least to the extent that the ratio of McAfee in August on threats revealed a 29% increase in the number of malware between blasting away anything the fourth quarter 2018 and the first quarter 2019, although this is not only the result of an increase in targeted attacks on IoT objects.

Attacks on exchange platforms and data theft

Jimmy Song , Bitcoin developer, told Cryptonews.com: "I suspect that trading platforms will continue to be hacked as they have been for the past eight years."

Other commentators are more adamant about the likelihood of an increase in the number of hacks and attacks next year. Charles Phan , Chief Technology Officer of cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Interdax, expects that this will also include "platforms linked to cryptos", such as digital wallets.

CipherTrace, a cryptocurrency and blockchain intelligence and security company, says in its 3rd quarter 2019 anti-money laundering report that while theft and fraud have decreased in this quarter, their amount in 2019 is even at $ 4.4 billion over the year.

But hackers won't just focus on the direct theft of cryptocurrency funds. They will also attempt to steal information and personal data in order to hack user accounts, which will allow cybercriminals to transfer their personal assets to their own wallets.

"While hackers usually try to steal money from savers, they also don't hesitate to target or steal sensitive personal information, as we have seen with BitMEX email leaks and Coinmama exploitation , [an encryption platform] in early 2019, "said Phan.

He added that hackers are constantly using increasingly sophisticated methods to try to stay one step ahead of their targets, as evidenced by Binance's $ 40 million hack in May.

Old problems, new methods

It is expected that in the coming years, hackers will increasingly focus on new ways to breach the cybersecurity of trading and other platforms.

"One of the major problems for many crypto trading platforms is the lack of HTTP security headers. Data from the top 100 platforms shows that only 11% have adequate security in this area," said Charles Phan, referring to a report published this year by the crypto currency research company CER. "We expect hackers to take advantage of it," he added.

In both cases, as many experts have already pointed out, crypto users should keep the private keys hosting their funds offline, for example in physical wallets such as Ledger, Trezor, KeepKey or others.

In addition, Mr. Phan points out that only 40 of the top 100 crypto currency exchange platforms have implemented Domain Name System Security Extension (DNSSEC), while the other 60 do not have appropriate registrations for their domains. , which means they are exposed to DNS (Domain Name Server) cache pollution attacks. It could also lead to an increase in attacks of a similar nature from next year.

Things do not end there, because in 2020 it is likely that phishing scams and malware attacks will increase.

"Phishing attacks will likely become more sophisticated as criminals move from email to text and social media to deceive their victims," said Phan.

Cryptocurrencies and attacks 51%

51% attacks are the nightmare of cryptocurrency holders. However, as the famous attacks on Verge, Vertcoin, Ethereum Classic and Bitcoin Gold indicate, they are possible, especially in the case of crypto-currencies with low hashrate, or network computing power, compared to their total quantity. hashrate available.

Jimmy Song admits that we may see an increase in these attacks next year, although it will be difficult later for hackers to convert these cryptos into fiduciary money.

"Cutting the reward for the BCH and BSV miners in half should make attacking these two cryptocurrencies very affordable," said Song. "The question is how an attacker will benefit from it."

"Usually, this implies a certain financial gain. But the only proven way to achieve this is by the technique of double-spending on exchange platforms. I imagine that we could see more and more of this kind of 'Attacks, although not as popular as the exchange platforms have just increased their number of confirmations. "

Bitcoin and the future

From a more distant perspective, Song - a 'Bitcoin maximalist' - believes that Bitcoin will remain robust to hypothetical threats.

Game theory plays in favor of Bitcoin. Indeed, says Song, it's hard to find a way to take advantage of an attack on Bitcoin. Conversely, altcoins have more problems. Most of them are centralized, thus implying the adoption of an equally centralized defense strategy. "

That said, while Charles Phan acknowledges that Bitcoin itself is well protected against cyber attacks, many of the systems and platforms that rely on it are not and will remain a weak point in the years to come.

"The problem with Bitcoin is not the protocol itself, which has proven to be secure, but rather the companies that operate on its network." details there.

"A chain is as strong as its weakest link and the weakest link in the cryptocurrency system is its custodians. If their security is not up to scratch, their customers risk losing everything."

However, an increase in cyberattacks against trading platforms and wallets can mean that the least suitable players are expelled from the crypto ecosystem and only the most capable survive, which will increase the overall robustness of the eco -system.

"Those who don't meet good security requirements go bankrupt," observes Jimmy Song. "That's how it works, and those who survive are much better on security, so I think over time , there will be less hacking. "