The attack "Crypto Dusting" sends Bitcoin illegally obtained to random cryptocurrency portfolios

Attack with the encrypted dust, an attack on cryptocurrency portfolios it is used to distribute recycled money to the portfolios of unsuspecting customers, which in turn affect their reputation and attract the attention of the forces of order, relationships DarkReading January 8, 2019.

A new way to distribute recycled money

Second DarkReadingThe encryption of the dust is a new attack that distributes funds illegally obtained from an unknown source to the portfolios of holders of innocent cryptocurrencies.

These funds are usually sent to random cryptographic addresses and, as such, a person has no control over being a recipient.

According to reports, scammers use cryptographic mixers, including BestMixer.io, to facilitate the process of anonymous sending of virtual currencies to addresses.

Commenting on the question, Dave Jevans, CEO of CipherTrace, a cryptocurrency intelligence company said customers may be aware of such transactions only through a welcome notification message from BestMixer, contained in the transaction history.

In his own words: "They're just putting it in your encrypted wallet, and when they run, they look at the last 75,000 addresses and send them in. When you open your wallet, it's there."

Reportedly, the bitcoin distribution can be appreciated by a recipient who believes it is a gift. This is due to the innocent nature of such transactions that can be just as harmful.

According to Jevans, some protocols monitor money laundering activities on some exchanges and as such, receiving these funds can "increase the risk on your accounts".

Alternatively, a customer can choose to protect himself from these attacks by blocking the bitcoin received from the send, the CEO says.

It also adds that companies, on the other hand, will have to rely on their suppliers to separate the money received through encryption attacks.

Difficult times for regulators?

At a time when regulators around the world are working hard trying to formulate measures to curb money laundry the activities via encrypted, the bad actors have turned into cryptocurrencies to cover their tracks.

This portfolios fraud aims to make the distribution of recycled funds untraceable by law enforcement officials, as thousands of accounts are spotted with this medium and the algorithms that have been put in place to monitor illicit agreements may not be able to detect them.

In the opinion of Mounir Hahad, Cyber ​​Security Expert at Juniper Networks, this cybercrime will not last long because the tracking algorithms could change. He also says that this crime is short-sighted, even if it is logical.

While transactions conducted through the Bitcoin network are much more traceable than privacy-focused currencies such as Monero and others, the proliferation of the coin acceptors makes it more difficult to track bitcoin transactions.

In July 2018, BTCManager informed that a blockchain search result revealed that up to two-thirds of the total market activity involving bitcoins on a given day includes mixers and spam transactions.